150 Stranded Whales Die in Tasmania

According to Australian official estimates, more than 150 pilot whales met their demise on Tasmania's west coast on Sunday, after they became trapped in the shallow waters. Though at first authorities counted no more than 80 individuals, later reports proved their numbers were far greater. On the bright side, at least 30 were rescued by a boat, which guided them to the safety of deeper waters.

 

Unfortunately, most of those that ended up on the beaches had injuries that were simply too severe to allow for their recovery. Despite the most enduring efforts on the part of ecologists and state officials, most of them died shortly after they reached the sands. This was just another mass stranding, which seems to occur periodically in the region, as every year sees at least one or two such events unfolding.

 

Just last week, 64 pilot whales were stranded on Tasmania's Anthony Beach, in a similar incident. From those, 11 were rescued and released back into the ocean. Five of them were tagged with GPS transmitters, which showed that they were swimming together and that they even joined a larger pod, traveling on the normal migration routes in the Southern Ocean.

 

Science still lacks a sound explanation as to why exactly mass stranding occurs, but hypotheses include a disturbance in the sonars of the whales, possibly caused by human noise, pollution, or other interference. The island-state of Tasmania is located directly on the path that long-finned pilot whales take each year during their migration. If their means of guidance are incapacitated, then they are blind in the waters.

 

Rescue workers in the region are beginning to qualify in whale stranding, as they deal with this type of situation yearly. Their rates of success – if the whales are found early – are increasing with each such incident, and ecologists from several organizations are always there to lend a helping hand. Unfortunately, there is little anyone can do to avoid such incidents from happening in the first place.