According to Gibraltar’s department of the environment, an artificial reef protested by Spain is now “exploding with life”. Initiated two years ago, the 70 concrete blocks sunk near Gibraltar airport’s runway are already home to a large range of marine species from octopuses to triggerfish.

The five-member research team is part of a Cetacean Population Study team under a United Nations Development Programme project on Mainstreaming Coastal and Marine Biodiversity. They had been surveying the waters over six months for humpback dolphins when the whales were observed.

“It is estimated that there are only 9,000 such whales in the oceans. They are the largest mammals in the world, even bigger than the Dinosaurs, but still they are least studied mammals,” said N Vasudevan, Maharashtra’s Chief Conservator of the Forest and Head of Mangroves Cell.

HMS Tamar was a 4,600 tons displacement sail and steam-powered Royal Navy troopship launched in Britain in 1863. She served as a supply ship from 1897 to 1941 and gave her name to the shore station HMS Tamar in Hong Kong (1897 to 1997).

In 1897 Tamar was hulked as a base ship and used as the Hong Kong receiving ship and served as the 'name' ship for R.N. headquarters until it was replaced by the shore station, which was named HMS Tamar, after the ship.