HEARTBREAK HARBOUR

391 whales dead in Australia’s worst stranding

The sounds they make as they call out to each other are piercing and tragic.

Mercury’ s reporter Helen Kempton on scene

THE race is onto save the final 30 pilot whales still stranded and alive at Macquarie Harbour in what is believed to be the largest stranding and death toll in Australia’s history.

Hearts sank early on Wednesday morning when another 200 of the animals were discovered stranded 10km deeper in the harbour, on Tasmania’s West Coast near Strahan.

All of those whales have died.

It takes the total of stranded whales to 470 and the death toll to 391. Fifty have been saved and rescue efforts are continuing.

Aerial reconnaissance located the additional whales at Betsys Bay.

Parks and Wildlife regional manager Nic Deka on Wednesday afternoon said the number of whales rescued represented“a success ”, although what caused the event remains unknown.

“We have a total of 50 that have been taken off the (sand) bar and placed in deep water and appear to have stayed there,” he said.

“We’ll continue working to try and free as many of the remaining live animals as we can.

“There’s certainly hope for them, but as time goes on they do become more fatigued and their chance of survival reduces.”

Marine conservation wildlife biologist Dr Kris Carlyon said it was “definitely” the biggest stranding event in Tasmania’s history and it was believed to be the biggest in Australia.

A plan for how the whale carcasses will be retrieved and disposed of is expected to be formulated by today.

Dr Carlyon said it was hard to know why the 200 whales found deeper in Macquarie Harbour were all dead, while some of those found at Macquarie Heads were still alive.

Parks and Wildlife’s rescue response has been criticised by some, with the belief they should have been called in to help on Monday.

“If people haven’t been trained and don’t have the expertise, they could easily jeopardise the health of the animals they’re trying to save,” Mr Deka said.

Petuna Aquaculture employees used the company’s boat Digger to tow some of the whales to open sea.

Boat skipper Tom Mountney said it was a rewarding task.

He said the harbour’s shallow waters, moving sand banks, high winds and strong currents made navigation treacherous.

“Macquarie Harbour is huge and the gates are only maybe 30m wide, ”he said.

“It’s OK if we know where togo.”

Digger towed out about 10 of the 25 whales that were rescued on Tuesday and was expected to pull out another 15 by late Wednesday.

Macquarie Heads camper Darrel Delaney discovered the stranded whales on a morning walk on Monday and drove to Strahan to report it to police.

“You don’ t want to see this ,” the recreational fisherman, in his mid-70s, said.