‘It’s a surreal scene’: Hundreds of whales stranded on Tasmanian coast

Hundreds of whales have become stranded on the west coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania just a day after a separate mass stranding event on King Island.

The Tasmanian department of natural resources and environment confirmed that a pod of around 230 pilot whales were stranded on Ocean Beach, with others caught on a sand flat inside Macquarie Harbour.

“It appears about half of the animals are alive,” the department said in a statement, adding that a team was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area. “Marine wildlife experts will assess the scene and the situation to plan an appropriate response.”

Staff from the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service and Tasmanian Police will assist.

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“Stranding response in this area is complex,” the department said. “If it is determined there is a need for help from the general public, a request will be made through various avenues.

Sam Gerrity of Southwest Expeditions, in Strahan, said: “There’s a few that are in the harbour that are still alive, and the majority of them are up on Ocean Beach.”

Tom Mountney, of Petuna aquaculture, was on Ocean Beach with five colleagues and helping with the rescue. He was a rescuer during a 2020 mass stranding at the same location.

‘Surreal scene’

“It’s a surreal scene,” he said. “I’m seeing about 200 whales here on the beach. I’d say about half are alive. We are kicking off our rescue effort – getting them onto special blankets to right them. The biggest are over two to three tonnes. We are triaging the smaller ones.”

Weather conditions were calm, he said, and some whales could be heard growling and clicking.

Mr Mountney said he had also seen about 20 to 30 pilot whales stuck on a sandbank in Macquarie Harbour earlier and could see some were still swimming.

The event comes exactly two years after Australia’s worst whale stranding on record, which occurred in the same location. On September 21st, 2020, 470 long-finned pilot whales were found beached on sandbars. A week-long rescue effort saved 111 whales, but authorities had to dispose of more than 350 carcasses.

Wednesday’s incident follows a separate whale stranding on Tuesday on King Island, north of Tasmania. At least 14 sperm whales died and washed ashore.

Prof Karen Stockin, an expert on whale and dolphin strandings at Massey University in New Zealand, said the west coast of Tasmania was a hotspot for a type of oceanic dolphin known as the pilot whale.

She said there were multiple reasons strandings could happen, including changes in water temperatures like in a La Niña or El Niño, with the animals coming closer to shore than normal.

“In pilot whales, they are highly social and cohesive and if one is debilitated or comes too close to shore, hundreds can follow.”

Negative outcomes

Earlier this week, Prof Stockin led a study that found as members of the public pressured rescuers to help whales, this could lead to negative outcomes for stranded animals, prolonging their suffering.

Regarding the King Island strandings, Dr Olaf Meynecke, from Griffith University’s coastal and marine research centre, said: “It is certainly highly unusual for such [a] large number of sperm whales to strand. They are highly intelligent. As was the case in Europe a few years ago, many of them were sick but stranded in various locations. Reported plans for seismic testing in that area are around the same location that these whales feed.”

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has confirmed that “there have been no seismic surveys undertaken in commonwealth waters off the northern or western coasts of Tasmania in the past week”. - Guardian