Washed-Up Whale Carcass

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I drove down to Newport Beach after reading this article in the local paper -

From this morning's Manly Daily (Website story):

Shark bait: a whale of a problem ENVIRONMENT 27 APR 11 @ 04:50PM BY LAUREN DICKSON   AUTHORITIES are tonight deciding how to remove the 12-tonne sperm whale lodged on rocks at Newport as shark sightings in the surrounding waters increased. Sharks were spotted nearby when The Manly Daily was on the scene this morning. The animal’s blood was running into the water, attracting sharks closer to the shore. Surf Life Saving officials were forced to close the beach today, but this did not prevent them from having to pull four people out of the water due to concerns about sharks. The removal of the animal became a tug-of-war today between National Parks and Wildlife Service, ORRCA and Broken Bay Water Police. Northern beaches area manager for National Parks and Wildlife Service Chris Grudnoff said that a number of factors contributed to the failure to remove the animal today. “The tide was wrong, the mass size of the mammal makes this situation difficult and there was a choppy southerly blowing which made getting a boat in impossible,” Mr Grudnoff said. “We haven’t had that much experience in Sydney with large dead whales, it’s a whole new ball game so we are waiting for advice from a marine expert in the morning before we make a decision as to how we will move it.” ORRCA spokeswoman Kris Madden said two options were available. “The first is to wait until surf conditions improve to enable the animal to be towed down, but how that would actually happen as it is in a fairly bad state has not been determined and needs to go through a few authorities,” Ms Madden said. “If it is found that they can’t move it, the other option is to dissect it.” Ms Madden said the whale will be difficult to move as large portions were missing. “The tail looks like it has been taken off by sharks based on teeth marks and it has been attacked from underneath, on its head and a bit on the dorsal,” she said. The whale continued to draw crowds throughout the day, including Newport resident Deb Einspinner. “Everyone is standing around hoping something will happen,” Ms Einspinner said. THE WHALE IN DETAIL The dead mammal is an adolescent sperm whale It is believed to be around 15 years old When measured today it was 10.1m, but if the tail was intact it would be 12m. It weighs an estimated 12 tonnes The cause of death is unknown It was first spotted floating off Long Reef early yesterday