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Whale shark and whale strandings in Indonesia rise in recent weeks
An Indonesian study cited by SCMP Economy found reported whale shark strandings averaged under 10 per year from 2011 to 2019, rising to more than 22 per year from 2020 onward.
A cluster of whale and whale shark strandings across Indonesia has prompted questions about whether such incidents are becoming more frequent, according to SCMP Economy.
The outlet cited five deaths in the past three weeks, including a whale shark that stranded and died on a beach in Aceh province on September 25, after a decomposed whale carcass was discovered in a mangrove in Riau province just days earlier.
SCMP Economy also noted a whale found dead in West Java on September 21, two days after a whale shark stranded and died in South Sulawesi, and a dead whale shark washing ashore in Bali on September 12.
The story pointed to a 2025 study in Scientific Reports by the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia and Konservasi Indonesia, which recorded fewer than 10 whale shark strandings per year from 2011 to 2019, but found the average jumped to more than 22 cases a year from 2020 onward, linking strandings to seasonal factors.