Whale Carcass Buried On Tweed Coast Beach
Last Friday, the badly decayed carcass of a humpback whale washed ashore on the Tweed Coast.
The carcass, which measured approximately ten metres in length, beached itself south of Black Rocks, which is itself just south of Pottsville. The alarm was quickly raised with community Facebook pages and shark warning site Bitemetrix alerting the public to the potential of feeding sharks. Ronnie Vickery from Bitemetrix said there was an increased risk for bull shark, tiger shark, and white shark.
The carcass was on land managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), meaning it was their job to dispose of it. The three choices available to them are: towing it back out to sea, transporting it from the beach to landfill, or burying the carcass in situ. After assessing the situation, the NPWS yesterday chose to bury the carcass in the beach foredune - see image below.
(Neil Lindsay, Facebook)
This decision has, unsurprisingly, caused a stir among surfers and beach users on the Tweed Coast. The carcass is buried approximately twenty metres from the tide line in an area that was eroded in August - the lack of established flora betraying the recent erosion. The potential for the carcass to leach into the water table is unacceptably high, according to a petition created today.
The same petition notes the south-to-north longshore drift and how it would spread decomposing whale matter from an admittedly isolated area north to more popular surf spots and beaches.
The NPWS haven't made known why they chose to bury the carcass, though the 'out of sight, out of mind' approach is the simplest and cheapest method of disposal. However, it can also end up being the more costly, laborious, and repulsive method when community opposition forces the issue.
In 2016, a sperm whale was exhumed at Casuarina Beach, also on the Tweed Coast, after locals voiced their concern at Tweed Council for burying it in the foredune. Then in 2017, buried whales were exhumed at Ballina and Port Macquarie following similar public backlash about attracting sharks.
A 2019 study ostensibly disproved the theory of sharks being attracted to buried whale carcasses, yet it also acknowledged that beach conditions can't be generalised. The study's author, James Tucker, suggested the burial site needs to be "far enough up the beach so that no very large spring tide is going to inundate it."
Comments
If they had buried it further up into the dunes another group would have complained about the flora being irreparably damaged. If it was dragged out to sea there would be complaints about the cost and attracting noahs.
While the battle may rage between AFL and NRL, they remain secondary to our true national sport here of whinging.
Nothing worse than a whinger with his/her leg bitten off!
Or an arm!
Or everything!
Not whinging, just locals wondering why they didn't take it to the tip like the last experience 2 years ago. The time spent on digging hole, dragging the whale to the hole and then filling it back in would've been similar or more time than loading into a the relevant truck to take to nearby tip. A few KM's up the beach they have all that machinery and trucks driving on the sand. Where they buried it is not a wide sand dune with recent swells taking the front of dune away. Behind it is a dune forest, can't bury it in there. The water table in this area is so high, 100 meters across the road from this site is a creek that runs into the ocean.
Whinging about whinging.
I hope you appreciate the irony here.
haha thus reinforcing my own point no? I'm as Aussie as the next bloke ;)
i guess it's as circular as intolerance of intolerance
Stuff is leeching out already
How can they think this practice is a great idea ?
… and with Summer looming, expect an obnoxious odour to permeate. The carcass should have been dissected, loaded onto trucks, and deposited into an established land-fill.
SandGropers are onto it . . .
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-13/whale-carcass-esperance-washed-u…
Am I reading this right that some locals just towed it out after getting the greenlight from council/some government agency?
Be a frosty day in hell that'd happen in Vic!
It'd be good to see more coverage of Tucker's work, as he's done a lot more on it than almost anyone, including on the factors driving community expectations, since the 2019 studies:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352485521002097
"We surveyed community perception of the disposal of whale carcasses and the factors influencing public opinion. Overall, the community underestimated carcass disposal costs, and considered nonviable methods (oceanic tow and carcass recycling) as their preferred options. Responses were divided into two groups: (1) those previously aware of this management issue, and (2) those unaware. The ‘aware’ group was polarised with strong opinions about the safety of beach burial and its influence on shark attraction. The source of information for respondents drove perceptions with personal opinion being the highest, followed by media, perceived natural processes, and research in the aware group. Expert opinion, and common management practice were the lowest ranked information sources suggesting a lack of access to reliable information, or a disconnect between experts and the external community. Surprisingly, 27.8% of respondents would not change their opinion based on research, emphasising the complexity of the issue and of the relationship between managers and the public."
I'm guessing Swellnet fits into "media" and anyone with any experience here would not use the word "surprisingly" to open that last sentence.
I'm going to needs some more data for my studies.
Wow that reads quite complicated
Must use big words
Tromp on people with complicated vernacular
Yes I need more data for my data # Facts.....
Another good chance to post this vid:
thats kinda sad and also fcn hilarious
Holy shit! hahahaha!!
Was hoping someone would do this.
No one copped a direct hit hit but… “everyone on the scene was covered in small particles of dead whale”.
OMG
if you just leave them out in the sun they bloat and explode anyway. See 50 Tone sperm whale in city streets in Taiwan 2004. Good times.
this never gets old!!!!
I watched them bury a whale just south of Dixon Surf Club (Newy) around 2007 from memory. They told me that it was standard practice - cheaper, simplest & quickest solution. A big crowd gathered. Was almost like a community event. All over fairly quickly (an hour or so from memory). Can not recall any negative consequences over the next 18 mths that I was living in Merewether. But this is just a single observation statistic - no science - nothing more. Sharks were also not really on my radar back in those days.
They like to sleep at pogos at night.
Half the hunter river used to run out there also way back when .
According to my late grandfather.
It was a different time .
NPWS doesn't like spending money on anything except new Landcruisers.
They'll be back in 2 weeks.
Ha.
While camping recently at a certain north coast campground I noted the NPWS ranger was accepting cashies from punters who arrived without a booking and wanted a cheeky site. That bloke seemed to understand the value of a dollar.
I've had the same experience rj - also at a north coast campground. The place was half empty but 'fully booked' online.
does mash patato really need a dash of milk with the butter when mashing....
Yes - absolutely
AND dont forget the pepper !
PS: The yanks add Garlic, but not for my liking.
VG Gowsa (;
No. Just add more butter.
Butter and salt, nothing more, and use an electric beater.
Why are we talking about this?
It's an important issue.
Yes.
And push the mashed to the side of the pot.
Then add milk to the clear side and bring it gently to the boil and frothing.
Then mix.
Extra creamy goodness.
Matlock for PM Bravo
Add a dash of seedless dijon mustard...
can also use cordless drill with a single beater for ultra high speed / smoooth mash lol.
caution: can get messy ish
Cream instead of milk is gold. Butter, salt and pepper too.
And add a bit of pecorino or parmesan cheese
Thanks for sharing the story Stu. Shark sightings reported this morning nearby. One big swell like you said and it could wash it back out. Will wait and see what happens....
Couldn't NPWS just have sold it to local Japanese restaurant and make a few bucks
I’ve never understood why dead whales aren’t dragged 20 klms offshore and let nature take its course . https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/whale-fall.html#:~:text=When%20whal….
Probably depends on the state of it and swell conditions.
Think it was the Water Police at Norah Head years ago who tried to tow one back out to sea and the tail just snapped off.
If it was already falling apart then throw a net around it , then drag it offshore and let the sharks have a feed klms out at sea . Yes if a large swell was running it would be difficult .
So difficult to get a tug close enough to pull it off the beach without breaking it.
It'd be like pulling a rope through a piece of cheese. That whale was sitting there for 4 days after how ever long it was already floating. Literally a bit of a blubbery mess which break into lots of pieces on the journey out to sea, probably washing back onto the beach. Best option at this location is to put it in the back of the relevant tipper truck that can gain access to the sand and take it to the nearby landfill.
Yes , I see your point .
Yep, one of those yellow 6 wheeled articulated tippers with the big tyres they used to sandbag Kingy a few years back would do the job easily.
The last few weeks have had these two units working on widening the southern training wall of the entrance to Mooball Creek (Pottsville), just 3.5km to the north.
Surely they could have been utilized for a landfill disposal? (photo courtesy Liesa Brennan on the Pottsville Community News page)
Crazy, especially being so close.
You'd think the council could've helped the NPWS with a request to 'borrow' it, even if at a fee.
They could have dealt with the carcass in a few hours and had that thing back on the job in no time.
But no, gotta save a buck where you can hey.
Until the next model Landcruisers come out at least.
Maybe too difficult to lift it in? While a digger can get down the beach no trouble I suspect a crane with suitable sling is a different proposition, both practically and financially.
How come the spring tide level gets a mention but not the groundwater runoff that’s constantly leaching through the dunes into the surf. Tow it out, you don’t burley up the water where ya kids are swimming!
seems idiotic at best, to bury it in the dunes above the high tide line.
noooo. I remember when they buried one at wurtulla and one at runways on the sunny coast, the one at wurtulla was bubbling blood through the sand....the council finally had a moment of clarity and removed the carcass at wurtulla....pressure the council that is suppose to look after your area
I would not call this area isolated, there are just no houses on beach due to geography and national parks land (10 metres north & it would have been Tweed Shire problem).
I surfed 50 metres up the beach that morning, and of course 500 metres north has (unfortunately) become very popular.
You really do have to wonder the framework for making decision.
What i saw was an opportunity to use a earthmover doing coastal work 1km north diverted for a quick fix.
Any worthy leader/ decision maker would know the quick/ first/ easiest answer is rarely the best.
I can see this coasting a lot more time & money to do right.
Set it on fire, cremate the whale problem solved
That's what i thought. Cover it in petrol and spark it up.
Can't see too much downside to this except fumes.
Just cut it up and use it as fertiliser or export to those who would see this as a delicacy.(Missed export opportunity) ;)
Well dead whales have rights of course!
Here's the hole they dug!
(photo courtesy Cr James Owen on the Pottsville Community News page)
Drop some Fluoro Dye Bombs in it .....Let see the Amount of Leech and where it Goes.
Are they tripping? That holes barely deep enough for a cow.
I'd like to order a steak from your part of the world.
Can't fix potholes but can dig graves for rancid whales..
No time for fixing pot holes.. too busy digging up perfectly good roundabouts and relaying them.
These whales are supposed to be full of whale oil which seemed to burn well back in the day. I wonder why the carcases in hard to get to places arent just burnt. Too simple??
https://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php?threads/setting-a-dead-whale…
haha. That threads classic @udo
imagine the smell when they exhume it
There are some impressive whale skeletons on display at Albany's historic whaling station and from memory was how they are "prepared": a dead whale is buried and remains so for a period of time while various critters underground get busy eating all the flesh and whatnot. Once all the bits are decomposed and eaten the skeleton is carefully exhumed fully in-tact, ready for display.
In terms of timing, I suspect one would err on the side of leaving it under too long rather than exhume it too soon.
And the Zoonotic Ooze .
Surely it could be used for making perfume....4711 anyone?
What needs to happen now is an established offshore reporting system for all marine traffic to report whale carcass sightings to potentially instigate a tow to sea or implement an immediate firing zone for Navy to have some 40 cal practice to de-gas the carcass and send it to the bottom before it comes ashore. In favourable conditions with enough wave action to break up a carcass on shore it takes around 6-8 months, so anyone's guess how long a buried carcass will take?, and this will leach and create a burley trail once buried.
Yeah spot on. So is it under Tweed Shire Council or Byron?
Tweed Council used to be one of the dodgiest in the land, back in the days they approved Salt and Pepper and destroyed all that pristine bush to the sth of kingy. Fark what was that pricks name again? Polglase!! That's right. Warren fucking Polglase. Was in bed with the developers and actually got sacked!! Not before that part of the coast was gone forever to developement.
Anyway, if it's Byron, they probably just want to wash their hands clean of it being so far out of the town.
That coast was my gym!! I used to have a punching bag strung up in the trees pretty much straight behind him and drive from my unit block at Hastos to do my training. Proper Rocky stuff. Also regularly did the beach jog from Hastos to bruns river and back and lots of long swims in the gutters(pre 2016 cluster attacks).
That bit of coast sth of Blackies is sharky as fuck generally anyway. Saw the biggest shark i'd ever seen in the water up to that point surfing with Wayno just Sth of Blackies once...a massive hammerhead...fins flapping around everywhere, right behind wayno. I yelled out to him but he had his back to it talking to me and missed the whole thing. Was quite surreal. Never looked like it was interested but by my estimates it was easily a 15footer.
Not sure why they couldn't truck it out of there. The stranding i went to last year down here, all and every whale was loaded onto trucks and taken away. Smaller whales though, but i'm sure there's a way. Anyway, no way in hell i'd be surfing there right now or the next 6months. Signed the petition.
I'd be asking serious questions of my elected council if i were a resident there still.
Piss weak.
A clear case of local knowledge being far superior to government bullshit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-13/whale-carcass-esperance-washed-u…
See it's not that hard and probably cheaper than an excavator.
Horizontal distance has to be from HAT to mean anything.
Would be interesting to know the current change in elevation over the 14m.
In 2 weeks time we have a 1.6m high which is 300mm higher than today.
With a bit of low pressure and a decent swell, they might not have to dig it up, nature might do it for them, if not this month.. next month.. or the one after that.. and so on.
Burial is a viable option. 'Gubba' ment do a risk assesment (liability, $, consultation, Fisheries, OEH, Council, politics),...for about a week...... Sometimes, if practical, the rate payers & Land Council are involved. )
PhD candidate James Tucker's research was based on the burial of 360 kg of whale flesh on a Coffs Harbour beach. The study (2019), based on field trials using 360 kilograms of humpback whale flesh, found that the reach of decomposition plumes was less than 2.5 metres.
"Provided that certain conditions are met, it's very unlikely that those decomposition plumes will reach the ocean, where they're available for sharks to sense," Mr Tucker said.
Those conditions include ensuring the carcass burial site is above the groundwater table and high-tide mark.
"We also found that [the plumes] don't last very long at all, so what we think is happening is that carcasses that are buried in the sand are pretty much mummifying, so we're not seeing much decomposition product come off those carcasses," Mr Tucker said.
While the study found the risk of shark(s) was minimal, it also acknowledged assumptions from the study site could not be generalised to all beaches — given conditions and groundwater presence can vary.
For that reason, the study concludes that certain conditions should be met when considering burying whale carcasses.
"The best thing to do is to have no water passing through — or a limited amount of water passing through — the burial site and bury the carcass far enough up the beach so that no very large spring tide is going to inundate it," Mr Tucker said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-14/do-buried-whale-carcasses-really…
There may have been a seasonal tradition for the hinterland tribal families, ( Dhurug & Darkinkung, Kamilaroi, etc )
when the wattle flowers & rivers flow, to go fishing & travel to the coast to trade, sing & dance with the eastuary tribes (Euora Gadigal, D’harawal & Kuringi) .
https://foodfairnessillawarra.org.au/dharawal-seasons-and-cycles/
A beached whale could be a time of feastival.
https://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/council/news-updates/latest-news/media-rel…
Snipped from above link:
"This method of disposal is consistent with the latest research, which shows that decomposition of whales buried above the water table and tide line, have very little detectable effect on the surrounding environment."
Tricky problem, to be sure. But if they are quoting "latest research" at the very least provide an appendix or link to it.
References from research studies by James P. Tucker; Southern Cross University
https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=Z0EcVcQAAAAJ&hl=en
(or right click mouse, google search, then filter in 'scholar'
Whales are a big mammal that gets sick, strands & dies. A lot of food.
PS> AI may solve some IT & PR problems and/or create deep voids, inescapable black holes of fake news & manipulation
From the guy that won the 2024 Nobel Physics Prize. Geoffrey Hinton, former Vice President of Google. He resigned from Google in 2023....
ChatGPT and/or zealous aquatic academics combine; in a documentary on colaborative marine research;
complete with Monty Python / Jim Carry script; delivered in an upper crust commentary....
Proof that alien's exist beneath the planet surf.
Citations. in the end
Anyone check the whale cemetery after the weekend's tides?
One Month on - Jono have you been near it ?
Look what just washed up at Mooball Creek (Pottsville), 3.5km north of the burial site?
Does it still stink? Looks like the Tweed copped the cyclone way worse.
Wow. Lots of sand being stripped from the beaches down there.
Yep. Though, worth noting that the training wall recently had an extension (so it's longer than you may have remembered from recent years).
Be interesting to go for a walk down the beach when things calm down and check that the hole that was dug has been… exhumed.
who would have thought?
"unprecedented" is gonna get a good run when questions get asked.