Hi I am chasing a few opinions on the effects of burying a dead whale on the beach, mainly on whether the carcass will slowly release oil and potentially attract sharks. A baby pilot whale was washed up on my local at casuarina beach and buried about 300m from where I and my three sons surf regularly. I am told that a whale carcass was also buried at Ballina in the same vicinity as the recent attacks.

What are also some other options to dispose of the carcass?

well.....

Its not too politically correct these days,

but - years ago - dead whales have been towed well out to sea, and dispersed with copious amounts of Dr Nobel's rapidly expanding bait.

or, dragged ashore and turned into meat meal for stock feed, and blood and bone type fertilizers.

I'm pretty sure option #1 is frowned upon due to tree hugging latte sipping hippy types[collectively known as sooks] being incredibly noisy whingers and spoilsports,

and option #2 is illegal due to anti-whaling legislation banning the use of dead whales - no matter how they became bigger and stinkier than usual.


stephen

Had to laugh try this......




But seriously try your local Uni or Museum they love an opportunity like that for a skeleton.

A buried whale at Middleton Beach in Albany had to be dug up and removed after sharks refused to leave the area. Its downright stupid to bury a whale anywhere near the water IMHO

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jbshack said..
A buried whale at Middleton Beach in Albany had to be dug up and removed after sharks refused to leave the area. Its downright stupid to bury a whale anywhere near the water IMHO

yeah much more sensible to keep it alive and make it follow you into a national park that way you can get it to dig its own hole so you dont get all tired from all the digging. then when the holes big enough quickly sneek a harpoon into its blowhole when its not looking and just push all the dirt back ontop. chuck some leaves on it to so any sharks running around the place dont find it and dig it up for a snack.

A whale head and neck, was buried about 1k north of where I live. A diver was killed by a shark about 300 offshore of the burial site within a year or two. It was a few (7 or 8)years ago so I forget the exact timing.

I think it's a bad idea!

The only place they buried a whale (metro) in WA is dead centre for most of the shark activity and a couple of fatals. Hmmm

If they reckon fertilising your lawn releases stuff into the river 1km away, then you can't argue 10 tonnes of fat won't do the same when it is 20m away!!!!!

The Mid North Coast NSW has seen a few wash up in the last 10 years, a couple of them have been removed from the beach and buried at the local tip, while a few have been buried in the dunes where they washed up. We have heaps of sharks in the area.

Chop them up, pop them on a boat and dump them 10 nm out at sea. That would be a good job for the worst of the prison type folk. Maybe they could put a few chunks into backpacks for the seediest of them and have them swim it out there.

Sadly there would still be a lot of crap left on the beach and it would still attract some sea life until a good winter storm cleaned it all up again.

I also believe that burying a whale in sand close to the beach is a poor idea.
In my opinion it is kind of a drip feed burley trail for sharks.
As the blubber breaks down into a slick can it not then flow through the wet sand water table with both tidal & weather events ?
This well filtered slick would remain mostly unseen to all but the keenest eye as it is delivered deep in the water , however a local water test sample may be able to pick up pathogens form the decomposition if the PPMs are elevated enough ?

More than 2 cents worth I know.

Tow them way out to sea .

My dog would roll in that **** all day long

Sell the carcase to the Japs so they can do their scientific reserch and leave the live ones alone.

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Mark _australia said..
The only place they buried a whale (metro) in WA is dead centre for most of the shark activity and a couple of fatals. Hmmm

If they reckon fertilising your lawn releases stuff into the river 1km away, then you can't argue 10 tonnes of fat won't do the same when it is 20m away!!!!!

They recently buried another whale on the beach at Alkimos.. When i started to ask about what had happened to it, they got very sensitive.

I cant see the problem with towing them well out to sea and anchoring it up.

Burying them is just the easiest and cheapest way. But its a short term solution IMHO.

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Hardcarve1 said..
Sell the carcase to the Japs so they can do their scientific reserch and leave the live ones alone.

the scientists would reveal it needs more salt. and a dash of lemon

Thanks for the feedback. Have tried contacting several people that should know but Xmas time holidays. There is a group that have volunteered to dig up and move 30m further into dunes where big swells haven't reached in some time. I'm not sure if this will be the solution but better than where it is.

How long has this whale has been buried? It will be a bit rank by now if it's more than a couple of days. For such a small whale I'm surprised it wasn't towed out to sea to start with - doable with a baby pilot, not to easy with a baby humpback.

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ThinkaBowtit said..
How long has this whale has been buried? It will be a bit rank by now if it's more than a couple of days. For such a small whale I'm surprised it wasn't towed out to sea to start with - doable with a baby pilot, not to easy with a baby humpback.

Its been explained to me it will take a little time to eventually leak into the sand and then to the water. So over night not much but a month or so will be an issue.

A large whale buried will take many years to break down fully.

I remember seeing footage of a dead whale of Exmouth/ningaloo (in the water) and it was completely cleaned up bone and all in weeks..