Surfers on the Bellarine Peninsula may want to give Thirteenth Beach a wide berth in the coming days.
Overnight a dead humpback whale washed ashore and is now decomposing in the shallows. Surf Lifesavng Victoria have closed the beach and advised of shark activity in the area.
There's been no word yet on how or when removal of the whale will take place.
All photos by Steve Arklay.
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Comments
I am very sad to see a dead whale at my home break, just a few weeks after I am back from Noosa and Byron where I was seeing them jumping happy and playing like us when we catch waves.
I can't really see much of any shark bites on this dead whale not even on some drone shot from another local photographer. I wonder if anyone is curious to know the reason why the sharks didn't take any bites or even why the whale is dead. RIP wonderful sea creature.
They'll come in eventually if they can get to it on the higher tides.
If you look at the photo from last night on the local FB page with the two great whites circling - there is an arc of exposed fat on the underside. Looks a little like multiple bite marks to me!
No WAY am I paddling out at 13th for a while...unless its smoking....
Hopefully an old whale , that found a nice final resting place , 13th .
It's Friday the 13th .
How wide is a Wide Berth and guessing the width gets bigger , every day ?
Is it an optical illusion I am looking at in regards to the tail of the whale in the first photo. Looks like it has been cut perfectly not ragged with bite marks.
Yes, I’ve just been there.
There’s flowers on the walk way and a beautiful dedication from a child that has done a drawing in another location nearby celebrating/commemorating such a beautiful mammal.
However some moron has cut the tail. It’s just attached with a slight amount of skin… That sort of lack of respect is sickening !
I was thinking the same thing about the tail.
Can't for the life of me work out why someone would do that. Any witnesses?
If not, my theory is fishing gear entanglement that's cut through the tail.
Re the tail - no one is strong enough, or going to have a tool anywhere near sharp enough to cut through the tail that cleanly
If anything, it’s a clue as to how the whale died. If I were a betting man, I’d say a boat propellor hit it, severing the tail almost clean off. It would have drowned as a result
It was probably one of the the cargo boats heading into / out of the bay, which would explain why it floated so close to Barwon Bluff and was washed ashore
Reports are the tail was sawn off and police have info on who did it. The whale is a Sei Whale not Humpback apparently.
A whale washed up a couple of years ago at Forest caves Phillip Island it was there for about 4 months
I don’t think you’ll be surfing on that beach for quite awhile
The sharks heading towards 13th can smell whale , in the water .
They are on a Whaling mission , B lining 4 a feed .
Humans don't smell like dead whale .
Can't bury the whale imho and probably can't tow it out 2 sea .
The smell on the beach , will keep some surfers away .
On a predawn grey-light mission at a local MP reef accessed by walking along a rocky beach I was amazed to see three young sharks (about 4' long) eating a dead seal right on the shoreline, I could hit all three with a cricket bat without getting my feet wet that is how close they were to beaching themselves. This reef is a known deep water shark locale with Pete (RIP) and a few of us out one day when a large creature swam through the lineup underwater at speed causing that sort of surface water displacement but obviously smaller you would reasonably associate with submarines. We all shat ourselves just totally.
blow it up! that always makes a fine mess
Any word on this?
https://timesnewsgroup.com.au/surfcoasttimes/news/whale-carcass-to-natu…
From the article... The whale carcass now on 13th Beach will be left to naturally decompose, with the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) claiming “removal is not a viable option at this time.”
coming into peak time for bh and og it will be interesting to see how this pans out
Not good.
Oh, that isn't good at all.
Yeh can't see how this is good enough at all by DEECA. Try harder, try something!
Interesting to see how far away people will start surfing - Ocean Grove? Breamlea?
Last week I saw people on the cam paddling out at OG
Also a mate said there was a sign up about a shark being spotted at one of the reefs between Juc and Winki earlier this week
One lone surfer at Clubbies yesterday
first day of good swell winds and tides I can't see people giving beacon a miss for too long, safety in numbers right?
Looks like good conditions for 13th this weekend. Public holiday Friday as well, so plenty of people around. It will be interesting to see if people paddle out.
Heaps of crew surfing OG and Raffs. No takers at Beacon yet that I've seen, yesterday arvo looked especially tasty there (check Rastas insta).
It's funny OG and certainly Raffs is probably closer to the whale carcass than Beacon, and also 'downstream' from a wind/swell perspective, yet crew are out there.
You'd think leaving it is not an option from a tourism/$$ perspective, also from a SLSC perspective (two clubs are within the warning zone). Can see the reluctance from the Gov, but I reckon they'll feel some pretty strong pressure coming onto them from here on in.
Just got home after a month away and went to have a look. Couldn't see any sign of a whale where it was meant to be. Although a heap of people with cameras walking down the stairs at Corners. Did the swell and high tide take it out yesterday?
Not removing it is a decision I reckon they'll soon regret.
The longer they leave it is only going to make the job harder and more expensive.
My bet is they'll eventually cave after enough public pressure, like the last time when the buried the thing.
Idiots.
I'm a little out of the loop, I'm not sure of the exact spot it landed. I think access might be the issue.
By my recollection, whales have been carted away at least 3 times in the recent past.
^ that blue whale lorne article is magnificent, how's the different ways the information is approached, original music throughout, and thoughtful visual presentation, of real people working around a thing over weeks. Collating proper, informed experience to make news? bygone era, cheers @icandig, enjoyed that.
Cool that it ended up in a museum too.
Rasta is on board too.
Yeah had a look for it going by this arvo, no whale to be seen so maybe it's remains taken back out - or eaten.
A couple of people in the white water at OG, onshore so saw nobody along 13th.
Was out at Isos in Perth the day a dead whale washed in circa 1997, the oily film of blubber water came in first and it was rank.
Surfcoast has been very under-represented in shark encounters these last 15-20 years, it's been bliss to be honest, so the consciousness that developed in WA in the 2000s for example, hasn't developed here. If you had the choice you wouldn't want to live through a time like that on your coast.
Common sense prevails. No doubt due to community pressure.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/7UJE3qTA31tweW4f/