Whale presented massive clean up issue

A 14.5m whale that washed up 2.5km north of the Preston Beach entrance has finally been removed after presenting authorities with a considerable challenge.

The humpback whale, estimated to weigh about 40 tonnes, washed ashore on September 1, following wild weather and remained on the beach for almost a week.

Waroona shire president and volunteer beach ranger Noel Dew said in his 20 years of patrolling Preston Beach he had never seen anything like it.

“We’ve had debris and sea lions wash up before, but nothing ever as big as this,” he said.

Dolphin Discovery Centre volunteer coordinator Jan Tierney said it was an unusual occurrence for the South West.

“It’s not rare to see whales wash up, but you almost never see it around our area,” she said.

“The whale seems to have died out at sea and the current has washed it up, so it wasn’t stranded.”

Stormy weather conditions made it impossible for volunteers to remove the carcass straight away.

On September 6, a work crew from the Waroona council was finally able to get to the whale and dispose of it with heavy machinery.

The whale was eventually buried in the sand dunes.

Mr Dew said by that time, it had decomposed and broken into pieces.

“We weren’t able to get to it for a while, the beach conditions were poor and it was hard to get four-wheel-drive vehicles down there,” he said.

“At times the waves were washing up right near the dunes.

“We were extremely concerned that the bits and pieces spread along the beach would attract sharks, so we shut down the beach for swimming.”

During the clean-up several sharks were spotted by volunteers.

Mrs Tierney said the oils which leaked out of beached whales were also a concern.

“Oils can leak out of beached whales for years and pollute the beach, so it’s recommended to remove a carcass as soon as possible,” she said.

For this reason whales had been transported to rubbish tips.

Preston Beach will remain closed to swimmers until further notice.