As the sun rose on Cheynes Beach, the devastating sight of 97 beached whales came into view — and with it the sad news that some of their number had died overnight, now 16 hours since they were first stranded.
The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions said on Wednesday morning that 51 whales had died.
“It wasn’t a great night overnight — of the 97 whales that were stranded yesterday afternoon, we had 51 die overnight,” Parks and Wildlife Service officer Peter Hartley said.
“We expect to have over 80 staff from a number of different government departments today, as well as some private sector agriculture support.”
Mr Hartley told Hit WA’s Allan & Carly that he expected much of Wednesday would involve saving as many whales as they could.
“The process today is to remove any deceased whales from the site and we will then start planning on getting as many whales back in groups out into deeper water,” he said.
“That would involve walking them out and using vessels basically guide them into deeper water.”
DBCA volunteers have started moving the whales off the beach and into deeper water using tarps and slings.
It is hoped that once past the shallows, the animals will move deeper.
Two volunteers are staying alongside each whale in the hope of making sure it stays out.
Work to remove the dead whales has also started, with a tractor being brought in to help.
DBCA’s Dion Utber said a vet was checking on the health of the whales.
He said a small pod of pilot whales was now in deeper water, with about 30 rescuers alongside them.
About 9.20am, a pilot whale tried to move back onto shore, with a group of volunteers deterring it.
Mr Utber said it was hoped to bring in vessels, slowly so the whales could get used to the sound, then use them to shepherd the whales out to sea.
A volunteers who had just come out of the water said they were trying to keep the whales upright.
He said some of the whales had started making vocalisations to each other in the water.
DBCA closed the beach overnight, condoning off the area and preventing vehicle access, though it was still possible to walk down to the beach.
One person remained, attending to one of the whales. Not far away, another two people could be seen helping another whale.
A fence has been erected running from the grass area to the beach and into the water, cutting off the public from the whales.
A volunteer centre has been set up nearby.
Whale watcher and documentary maker Chris Meuzelaar was still hopeful of saving some of the stranded pilot whales, despite the grim news.
“It’s nice to see there’s so many still alive at this point,” he said.
“I don’t think the day is going to end well but … at the moment there’s a little bit of hope around … so I hope something comes out of it.”
Meuzelaar, who is filming the Cheynes Beach stranding as part of a documentary he is making, praised the enthusiastic Albany community.
“They’ve got a lot of general care, general concern, general worry, a little bit of frustration, which is understandable,” he said.
“But they tell me pilot whales, unless you can get them all out in a group, they’ll just rebeach themselves.
“I guess there has to be a coordinated effort to get all the pilot whales out … so that half the pod doesn’t want to come back in.”
The pod of long-finned pilot whales was spotted swimming perilously close to Cheynes Beach, 60km east of Albany, on Tuesday morning.
They beached themselves later that day.
At 6am on Wednesday, DBCA’s Parks and Wildlife Service urged members of the public to stay away from the stranded whales as they had enough registered volunteers, having been overwhelmed by hundreds of offers to help.
Many Facebook users commenting on the media coverage said they were disappointed they couldn’t get through to the DBCA landline to register as volunteers.
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“We understand the public’s concern and appreciate the support from volunteers and organisations,” the Parks and Wildlife Service Facebook post said.
“However, we now have enough registered volunteers and the best way to help is for members of the public to stay away from Cheynes Beach on Wednesday.”
Every year, about 2000 whales beach themselves around the world. Toothed whales rather than baleen whales are more likely to be involved in strandings.
While there has been no definitive reason given for whales to beach themselves, climate change and naval sonar have been linked to the event.
Beached whales often die because of dehydration, collapsing under their own weight or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole.
Significant mass strandings off WA
- 1986: Flinders Bay Augusta — more than a hundred false killer whales.
- 1996: 320 long-finned whales became beached in WA’s largest stranding.
- 2009: Hamelin Bay — pilot whales.
- 2005: Busselton Beach — false killer whales.
- 2018: Hamelin Bay — about 150 short-finned and long-finned pilot whales. Only four of the whales survived.