Hundreds of Whales Stranded On Tasmania’s West Coast

A second massive whale stranding has occurred on Tasmania's west coast.

The Tasmanian department of natural resources and environment has confirmed that a pod of around 230 pilot whales have stranded on Ocean Beach and on a sand flat inside Macquarie Harbour, near Strahan.

“It appears about half of the animals are alive,” the department said in a statement, adding that a team was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area. “Marine wildlife experts will assess the scene and the situation to plan an appropriate response.”

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Meanwhile, a team of biologists and a veterinarian are on site, collecting samples from the deceased whales.

“Hopefully those post-mortems will give us clues as to why they become beached,” Marine Conservation Project wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon told The Mercury.

“The most common reason for stranding events is misadventure, they might have been foraging close to shore, there might have been food and possibly they were caught on a low tide,” Dr Carlyon said.

“That’s the theory at the moment.”

The mass stranding comes exactly two years after a similar incident in 2020 at Macquarie Harbour where 470 pilot whales were stranded, with rescuers managing to save just over 100.

It also follows yesterday’s tragedy where a pod of 14 young sperm whales were washed ashore on King Island.

More to come.

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