KOKROBITE - Five whale carcasses have washed up on Ghana's coast in the last week, officials said Thursday, vowing to probe the reportedly unprecedented string of marine deaths in the area.

Speculation has circulated widely in local media that Ghana's offshore oil installations are to blame, but an environment group and Ghana's Fisheries Commission said there was no available evidence to support such theories.

According to the fisheries commission regional officer Emmanuel Ohene Marfo, they are "sending a team to investigate what is going on because it's not normal".

He confirmed that five whale carcasses had been spotted on various beaches since Friday.

The Friends of the Nation environmental group said in a statement that 16 whales had died in Ghanaian waters since 2009, an unprecedented amount, and called for a formal investigation.

Ghana began oil production off its western coast in December of 2010, but Friends of the Nation Executive Director Donkris Movuta said the timing could be just a coincidence.

"It could be anything in the marine environment," Movuta said.

"There's need to see why are they dying out and being washed ashore. They could die and get down in the sea, but why are they being washed ashore?"

Of the fives whales found dead in the last week, three were spotted in the Western Region, where oil is being pumped from the offshore Jubilee field, Marfo said.

Two others were found on beaches near the capital Accra.

Four of the whales were too decomposed to be identified, but the one that washed ashore off the Western Region capital Sekondi was identified as a humpback whale, Marfo said.

In the beachside tourist town of Kokrobite, 50 kilometres from Accra, the decomposing carcass of a whale was quickly becoming an attraction for residents.

In keeping with a local tradition, area fisherman had decapitated the whale and were charging sightseers to see the skull.

Nearby, the whale's headless body floated in the breakers. Some who passed by climbed on the corpse to pose for photos.

"I'm very surprised because I think normally whales don't die like that," said Emmanuel Quarshie, working on a nearby construction project.

"I'm asking myself, how should this be happening?"

http://www.enca.com/africa/five-whale-carcasses-wash

A go chop fish o,

Snapping pictures with the carcass. I trust naija, dem for dey machete the 'meat' to pieces as we speak

Fish pepper soup all over Ghana, 5big whales at that...

If this were to be Nigeria, those carcasses would have been molested by hungry mouths!

That's the difference between Ghanaians and Nigerians; sophistication and primitiveness; real giant of Africa and inconsequential of Africa; chale and bobo/baba; fufu and eba etc.

Chale...akwaaba Ghana!!

shymexx: If this were to be Nigeria, those carcasses would have been molested by hungry mouths!

That's the difference between Ghanaians and Nigerians; sophistication and primitiveness; real giant of Africa and inconsequential of Africa; chale and bobo/baba; fufu and eba etc.

Chale...akwaaba Ghana!!

finnaly the mask is off. Herr Shakiru aka shymexx, the so called angry Nigerian of British parentage is actually Abrantie's elder brother. I now understand your your palpable disdain for Nigeria and Nigerians. Good luck to you.

They call it a carcass....how are they sure the Animal isn't still alive; just got beached as some Whales do?

Whats killing these creatures?

If you eat a fish killed by toxic chemical you may end up in the mog

I wonder why dead Whales are getting washed ashore. But no one can deny the contrast between the Nigerian erience.

Lagos- There were chaotic scenes as hundreds of residents along the Alfa Beach coastline in the Lekki area scrambled to skin a dead whale that had been washed ashore the Lagos coastline.

Witnesses said the giant animal was sighted in the morning by a few residents who called more people to the scene.

A man who witnessed the incident, Wale Agbaje, described the events as chaotic with the residents struggling with cutlasses and axes to get a chunk of the whale.

“The scene was really something to behold. Within hours that the dead whale was seen, residents in the area began to rush to the beach with big cutlasses and containers. At some point, some residents were fighting among themselves,” he said.

Officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment arrived at the scene later in the day and chased the residents away.

One of the officials, who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to comment on the incident, said it was worrisome that the residents were oblivious of the dangers of eating the animal.

“What the people did is very dangerous. They are cutting and taking home the meat of a dead whale when they do not even know the cause of the sea creature’s death,” he said.

Eating whale meat may be a human health hazard as the animals are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants.

These can cause neurotoxicity (nerve damage), reproductive and developmental disorders, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation and endocrine disruption.

Marotzke: finnaly the mask is off. Herr Shakiru aka shymexx, the so called angry Nigerian of British parentage is actually Abrantie's elder brother. I now understand your your palpable disdain for Nigeria and Nigerians. Good luck to you.

Being a Ghanaian isn't a bad thing with the type of chics they breed in that country.

Thank God I'm a Ghanaian and those big batty chics are now mine!!

Akwaaba chale!

shymexx:

Being a Ghanaian isn't a bad thing with the type of chics they breed in that country.

Thank God I'm a Ghanaian and those big batty chics are now mine!!

Akwaaba chale!

so,if important countries are coming out,sh^ithole[ghana] go come out too....better tell your village country to embrace civilization.....oloshi omo

Wey Abu Mikey?? Com Go Buy Pepper Soup Things!!

^^ I don buy the things finish,e dey Kitchen

owolabifunke14: If you eat a fish killed by toxic chemical you may end up in the mog

Morgue!

shymexx:

Being a Ghanaian isn't a bad thing with the type of chics they breed in that country.

Thank God I'm a Ghanaian and those big batty chics are now mine!!

Akwaaba chale!

Your brother Abrantie is a proud Ghanian who articulates his views and positions from a Ghanian standpoint. You (Herr Shakiru) are just a Nigerian wannabe who is riled up because of limited opportunities available to you.

shymexx:

Being a Ghanaian isn't a bad thing with the type of chics they breed in that country.

Thank God I'm a Ghanaian and those big batty chics are now mine!!

Akwaaba chale!

Is Ghana a country

Something needs to be done about this.Just weeks ago,A blue whale was found in alpha beach.months back a sperm whale was found at elegushi beach.earlier this year,a baby whale was also discovered at bar beach.Its like becoming a trend.something obviously is wrong.Or this species going extinct.

I also wonder the amount of tidal currents and waves powerful enough to wash a giant whale ashore.I don't know this mammals to swim close to the shore.cause ordinary tilapia fish are not found as they are on the shores of the beach.me wonders.
Lagos state Govt needs to do something about the immediate butchery of these whales by those agberos and area boys at the beach.its gross how they do this.we need to expand conservation and marine life agencies to cater for immediate responses to such incidents.

#Animal conservation,Let's save the world and keep this precious mammals#

Hezron Lorraine:

I also wonder the amount of tidal currents and waves powerful enough to wash a giant whale ashore.I don't know this mammals to swim close to the shore.cause ordinary tilapia fish are not found as they are on the shores of the beach.me wonders.

You're underestimating the power of air and water molecule friction.

They were dead anyway, thus making it possible for the water to move them anywhere, the shores included.