The two killer whale carcasses found recently in the East China Sea near Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province have been sent to a university scientific institute where they will be studied.
The killer whales, both over four meters long, were caught by a fisherman in Fenghua district, Ningbo, surnamed Lin, on February 16, and were sent to the scientific research team of Nanjing Normal University in neighboring Jiangsu Province on Saturday, the Zhejiang-based Hangzhou Daily reported on Wednesday.
According to Lin, the killer whales were already dead when he caught them in the East China Sea, 40 hours by ship from Fenghua.
Even though Lin did not recognize what kind of "fish" he had caught, he realized they might be a protected species and soon reported his find to local fishery department, who then contacted Nanjing Normal University.
According to the Hangzhou Daily, there has been a team at Nanjing Normal University that studies whales and dolphins since 1970s.
"Nowadays fishermen usually have some knowledge of animal protection. When they catch protected fish, they free them immediately; if the fish they catch are dead, they contact the related department," an employee of the Fenghua Ocean and Fisheries Bureau said.
"Changjingyin," a Sina Weibo account about whales with more than 146,000 followers, noted that China has recorded less than 20 sightings of killer whales in its waters, mainly in 1960s and 1970s in the more northerly Bohai and Yellow seas.
