A baby humpback whale has been found dead after becoming entangled in a shark's net. N.S.W. coast.
The 8m juvenile whale was found wrapped in a net north of Wollongong in the waters between Coaldale and Wombarra on Tuesday.
It is the 15th whale to be entangled in shark nets along Australia's east coast this year and the first to be confirmed dead. It is believed that he drowned while migrating south to Antarctica.
A NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesman said shark netting contractors discovered the dead whale during a routine inspection on Tuesday morning.
“Prior to this, DPIRD had not received any reports of whale entanglements at Coaldale,” they said, adding there had been no other reports of whales entangled in NSW shark nets this year. However, in June, a whale became entangled in a shark's drumline off Nobby Beach in Newcastle.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Rescue and Research Organization Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) and Marine Rescue NSW responded on Tuesday afternoon after finding a juvenile with the net was entangled around its tail and side fin.
“Everyone involved tried their best to free the deceased whale,” NSW Marine Rescue Inspector Stuart Massey said.
“The plan was to get the body to a place where it could be pulled out of the water,” he said. Shortly before 15:00, “the combination of adverse sea conditions and the proximity to the rocks and coastline meant that it became unsafe for our vessel and crew to remain there, so we were forced to abandon ship.”
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The whale carcass washed ashore on Tuesday evening. ORRCA said in a statement: “The cause of death is unknown at this stage and will remain unknown until… an autopsy is carried out.”
There are 51 shark nets installed in New South Wales, equipped with acoustic “whale alarms” and “dolphin pingers”. The devices “emit a high-frequency sound wave that deters mammals from the area and reduces the likelihood of entanglement,” a DPIRD spokesperson said.
“The NSW Government will continue to explore new shark control technologies to minimize the impact on marine animals while protecting beachgoers.”
The drowning of the whales has renewed calls for the New South Wales government to end its shark fishing program.
NSW Greens MP Kate Fahrmann said it was “heartbreaking to see the humpback whale calf die, especially as its death was completely preventable.”
“Every year when the nets are pulled out, we see more whales and other wildlife such as dolphins, endangered turtles and endangered gray nurse sharks being caught, injured or killed.”
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Dr Olaf Meinecke, who researches marine mammals at Griffith University, said there was little evidence that shark nets had prevented shark bites in the past. He said “large-scale removal of sharks along beaches as a mitigation measure” has done little to reduce the risk.
Meinecke said baby whales are at higher risk of becoming entangled and drowning. “We know they don't understand the dangers of networks.” Whales According to him, gain experience over time and learn to report dangerous places.
The young whale “will panic quite quickly, and in the open sea there is a risk of drowning.”
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said in a statement: “Governments can help keep ocean holidaymakers safe by increasing investment in modern alternatives to outdated and ineffective shark nets and reels.
“These include subsidies for personal shark deterrents, shark detection programs, eco-shark barriers, bite-proof wetsuits, and improved public education. The 2017 Senate Inquiry into Shark Risk Reduction recommended that the federal government show national leadership in attracting this investment, but it is still being ignored.”
Whish-Wilson also called on the federal government to remove an exemption from the National Environmental Act that allows government-controlled shark capture programs.
“Federal law allows the kind of state-sanctioned animal cruelty we see off the coast of Queensland and New South Wales through the dangerous and archaic EPBC exception.
“It’s time to end the world’s longest-running marine culling and stop this barbaric government-sanctioned cruelty to animals.”
