Australia whales: rescuers in Tasmania free 25 stranded pilot whales, but 90 already dead
Rescuers have freed 25 of the 270 whales stranded on Tasmania’s west coast with the state government confirming about 90 of the marine mammals have already died.
A huge rescue effort got under way near Strahan in Macquarie Harbour on Tuesday morning, with 60 people and several boats trying to free the marine mammals stuck on two sandbanks and a beach.
The coordinator of the rescue, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service regional manager Nic Deka, has told Guardian Australia of the daunting task ahead after first seeing the long-finned pilot whales from the air.
Deka said the first rescues of the morning involved staff and volunteers up to chest-deep in the water.
“We’ve hit upon a method that’s giving us the best chance of success,” he said. Rescuers put a large sling under the whale and then pull and coax the animal off the sand.
“There comes a point when the whale becomes slightly buoyant then we allow the boat to help the whale into the channel and the animal is then released.” He said it was a 30-minute round trip for each animal, as they needed to be taken far enough away from the other stranded whales so that they didn’t just turn around and swim back.
“It’s just a matter of steering them. These animals have been in a reasonable shape. They tend to want to return to the pod – they’re very social – so we have to get them far enough away.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Deka’s team had rescued 25 whales.
Speaking at a press conference with the marine biologist, Dr Kris Carlyon, he told reporters that roughly a third of the whales had died.
“The whales we have been rescuing are those that are closest to the deeper water of the channel and that is where most of the effort has been focused,” Deka said.
Carylon, from the department’s marine conservation program, said that some whales could potentially restrand themselves after being freed, in what is a common phenomenon.
One whale had already re-stranded itself, and rescuers would attempt to release it again, he said. Carylon said it was “inevitable” that more whales would die in the coming days so rescuers would consider each saved mammal a “win”.
“This was a natural event, so we can accept that we are going to lose some animals,” he said. “This is such a tricky event … that any whale we save we are considering a real win. We are focusing on having as many survivors as we can.”
The marine biologist said experts did not know what caused the beaching event.
“There are many different factors that can cause this. Often it is simple misadventure, one or two or a few ani
mals get themselves into trouble and the rest of the group might follow them in. There is a whole host of infinite examples of why these guys might strand.’
The rescuers will resume their efforts early on Wednesday morning.
Deka told Guardian Australia that late on Monday he surveyed the stranding from a helicopter. “It’s a bit disturbing and distressing to see that number of animals stuck and in trouble,” he said.
“My role is an incident controller and it was quite daunting as I started to get an appreciation of the task ahead.”
With about 90 animals already dead, Deka saidthey were formulating plans to dispose of the carcasses as some were close to areas used by the public.
Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, was advising on ocean currents that could be used to move the dead animals out to the ocean. A landfill could also be used, but this was “not without its problems”, he said.
Long-finned pilot whales can weigh well over a tonne, with some about the weight of a small family car.
Deka said no dead animals had been moved yet as the focus was on freeing the survivors. The rescue effort is likely to last at least several days.
Tasmania’s west coast is exposed to changeable and wild weather. A high tide was approaching and a low-pressure system in the area over the next two days could also push water levels in the harbour higher.
This could theoretically free some of the whales, Deka said, but the problem could be that they would not swim out beyond Macquarie Heads and into the ocean.
He said: “The problem is that they return to the animals that are in distress. Our assessment is that if they are free, they are unlikely to head out unless we give them some assistance.”
Tasmania’s coastline, and Macquarie Harbour, have seen many strandings of whales.
The rescue is being coordinated by the state’s Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.
As well as 40 departmental staff, another 20 volunteers are also helping, mainly from the harbour’s fish farming industry.
Deka added: “It’s certainly a challenging task and you need people not just trained and competent in whale rescue, but are also quite proficient in the water. These are quite stoic individuals – we have some very experienced people involved.
“With these events there’s generally mortality [of the animals] and it’s sad, but it’s not unfamiliar [to the rescuers].”
Earlier,Carlyon said the stranding was the “trickiest” he’d had to deal with in his 12 years with the program, with tides, sand, weather and scale all making the rescue effort a challenge.