A blue whale measuring approximately 30 feet washed ashore in Balochistan’s coastal city of Gwadar on Wednesday, with WWF investigating the cause of its death.
The carcass had been seen floating at different locations off Gwadar for two days until waves carried it towards the shore in East Bay. Authorities were informed, and marine conservation organisations began assessing the discovery.
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, a marine life expert and technical adviser to WWF, said the death was a cause for concern for marine biodiversity.
A preliminary assessment suggested the whale might have entered shallow waters and become disoriented, Khan said, adding that the cause of death remained unknown and further investigations were underway.
Blue whales, the world’s largest animals, are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. Entanglement in fishing nets, collisions with ships and marine pollution are among the threats to their survival.
Earlier Deaths Along Balochistan’s Coast
The discovery follows several whale deaths recorded along Balochistan’s coast in recent years.
In June 2025, a fisherman found a 35-foot-long blue whale dead in Gwater Bay, near the border with Iran. WWF said it appeared to have died several days earlier in the open sea, raising the possibility that it had become entangled in fishing nets, although the cause was not established.
The organisation described that death as “sad news for the conservation community around the world”.
A blue whale measuring around 42 feet was also found dead in Jiwani’s Bandari area in May 2023, while a 27-foot-long Bryde’s whale was discovered near Pasni in November that year. An approximately 34-foot-long whale had been found dead on the Gwadar coast in April 2019.
Following the Gwater Bay discovery, Khan called for stronger protection for whales and dolphins, noting that both were protected under wildlife and fisheries legislation in Balochistan and Sindh.
He also urged federal legislation to extend protection to cetaceans in the exclusive economic zone.