MIRISSA, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan waters are considered a haven for the largest creatures ever to have lived, the blue whale, a rare place for a resident, year-round population to thrive. In 2021, however, news headlines claimed a population decline, and in 2023, a media report mentioned a significant drop in blue whale sightings. […]
  • A resident population of blue whales has for many years lived in the coastal waters of Sri Lanka, but in recent years sightings of the animals have declined rapidly.
  • With multiple pressures on these massive creatures — from ship traffic on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, to disturbance from whale tourism, pollution and surface sea temperature rise and climate change — there are several possible factors for the disappearance of the whales.
  • Sri Lanka’s leading marine researchers agree that increasing sea temperatures in the North Indian Ocean, warming at the fastest rate of any of the world’s oceans, have likely pushed the whales to new waters.

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