Exactly two years after the largest known mass stranding of whales in Australia to date, hundreds of marine mammals have once again washed ashore in the same bay. In total, about 230 animals were discovered in the shallow Macquarie Bay in western Tasmania on Wednesday, the Tasmanian Authority for Natural Resources said. About half of them were still alive at first.
Experts assume that, like two years ago, grinding whales are. At the end of September 2020, a total of around 470 animals got lost in the remote bay in the same region, of which only 111 could be saved in an elaborate rescue operation.
Among other things, a change in water temperatures triggered by the La Niña and El Niño climate phenomena could be responsible for the mass stranding, said Karen Stockin, an expert on whale and dolphin strandings at New Zealand's Massey University. Then the animals would often come closer than usual to the coast. If a single animal is sick, injured or weakened and therefore stranded, hundreds could follow, explained the expert. "They don't do this because they're stupid, but because of their emotional attachment to the other animals," Australian media quoted marine biologist Olaf Meynecke of Griffith University as saying. Another possible cause is a misnavigation of the leader of the group, says Stockin.
Sea biologists now want to develop a plan to save the surviving sea giants. Helpers spoke of "surreal scenes". They tried to protect the animals with special blankets. The biggest specimens are two to three tons, the Australian "Guardian" quoted a man who had already helped with the use of the 2020 whale.
It was only on Monday that more than a dozen dead sperm whales were discovered on an island north of Tasmania. The 14 carcasses were found on the coast of King Island, between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. Sea biologists and veterinarians should now examine the circumstances of death. However, Stockin sees no direct connection between the phenomena: "These were spote whales that are more loners." Nevertheless, it is interesting that the two beaches had occurred so shortly in a row.
