The East China Fisheries Research Institute will carry out research on a rare whale that died on a beach in neighboring Zhejiang Province last week.

Weighing about 2 tons and measuring almost 4 meters in length, the fin whale died after it was left stranded the shores of Ningbo City on Sunday.

"We are trying to raise people's wild animal protection awareness by maintaining the whale body and using it for scientific research," said Ye Weijun, director of the research institute's development division.

Second in size to the blue whale, the fin whale is protected under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. A worldwide ban on hunting the fin whale has been in place since 1976.

Researchers said that this fin whale was probably hunted by fishermen by mistake and then abandoned and left to die.

The whale's skin and skeleton will be kept while the meat disposed of.

Ye said the specimen will be kept at the Shanghai Fisheries University for display and research use. The project is scheduled to be completed next year.

(Shanghai Daily June 16, 2006)