The recent events in France drew public attention during the first weeks of August as a beluga, an Arctic whale, found itself stranded about 70 kilometers from Paris. After more than a week in the Loire river, a French rescue operation coordinating 24 divers and lasting nearly six hours freed the animal from a river lock and transported it in a refrigerated truck toward Ouistreham. Before it could reach the Atlantic, veterinarians made the difficult decision to euthanize the beluga due to a worrying physical condition. There was no happy ending for this missing whale.
The public fascination with the animal stemmed not only from its severe illness and the substantial donations raised to aid its survival but also from the rarity of such an occurrence. The Loire and Seine rivers have rarely hosted a beluga; this episode echoed another instance of a white whale appearing in Western European rivers since 1948. In that earlier year, a fisherman found a similar creature in his nets in the Loire, marking one of the earliest recorded detections in French waters. The Seine, meanwhile, provides the first documented evidence of a beluga presence in this river system.
By 2018, reports described a white whale in the Thames Estuary off the coast of the United Kingdom, a three-month anomaly in Western European rivers known for harboring species adapted to cold Arctic waters. The Pelagis observatory, which monitors marine mammals, notes that the nearest beluga population lies roughly 3,000 kilometers away in waters beyond the Svalbard archipelago off northern Norway. The species typically migrates south in autumn but does not normally venture so far inland.
Noise pollution, possible cause
How did an 800-kilogram marine mammal travel 130 kilometers down the Seine and remain in the river for more than a week? The animal was observed in the river on August 2, and the exact route it took remains unknown until it became stuck in a Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne lock. This mystery sparked concern in France because another near-identical event occurred in May, when an orca entered the Seine as far as Rouen but died during an unsuccessful attempt to redirect it toward the ocean. Later, at the end of June, a minke whale was seen near the mouth of the river at Le Havre.
Belugas and killer whales are herd animals that normally live in groups. Finding one alone in a new environment prompted experts to call the situation unusual. Gérard Mauger, vice-president of the Corentin cetacean studies group, spoke to Le Progrès about the situation, noting the odd solitary appearance and the potential danger signals flagged by Sea Shepherd France. One possible factor raised by rescuers is the impact of noise pollution in the sea.
Experts suggested that human-generated noise can interfere with cetaceans, which rely on acoustic signals to navigate, communicate, and survive. When levels rise, the animals may lose their orientation and suffer from injuries or other health issues as a result. Offshore wind farm construction along the Seine Estuary is a particular concern. The noise produced by large infrastructure projects is well understood by researchers, and some fear that offshore wind development near protected areas could harm marine life over time.
“Multiple Factors”
Other scientists and organizations emphasize that offshore wind farms might contribute to adverse outcomes but are unlikely to be the sole cause. The Pelagis observatory reminds the public that the presence of a beluga in these waters could be the result of several interacting factors, including the animal’s health, age, social isolation, and environmental conditions. Young whales, in particular, are more prone to dispersing away from existing groups, which can lead them into unfamiliar waters.
Oceanographer François Sarano has explained that climate change may play a role by altering sea temperatures and currents, which can push marine mammals into unusual areas. He also notes the potential impact of rapid shifts in the Earth’s magnetic field on animal navigation. The range of hypotheses reflects the complexity of cetacean movements and the possibility that multiple drivers are at work when such unusual inland appearances occur.