Humpback whale stranded off Hervey Bay is refloated

Determined rescuers have spent two days fighting the tide and a circling tiger shark to rescue a humpback whale that had stranded itself through ‘misadventure’ off the Qld coast. Watch the video:

A mammoth two-day effort to save a whale off the coast of Hervey Bay has been successful, with a 10m humpback refloated alive and well.

The huge effort was carried out by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, rangers and Sea World experts.

QPWS received a report of a stranded whale on the Dayman spit sandbank in the Great Sandy Marine Park on Sunday, July 14.

Rangers assessed the whale and found it to be in good condition, but unable to free itself from the sand.

Over next two days, while the tide improved, QPWS and Sea World crews continued to assess the animal and encourage it to turn and move forward, with the aim of allowing it to free itself once the water was deep enough.

To keep the whale calm, they applied wet sheets to its exposed back to prevent sunburn, and ensured members of the public stayed away.

The humpback whale was successfully refloated after getting stranded off the coast of Hervey Bay.

On Tuesday afternoon, additional marine mammal specialists from Sea World joined the response, and shark spotters were put in place as a 3m tiger shark was spotted.

While working from vessels to attach towlines to the whale, the large animal finally moved itself across the bank and into deeper waters.

The team monitored the whale to ensure it continued to swim out to sea and by 4pm it was swimming freely with no signs of injury or distress.

QPWS principal ranger Steve Hoseck said successfully refloating stranded humpbacks was rare, but always a great outcome.

“Whale strandings happen for lots of reasons; often because the animal is sick or injured, but sometimes it is a result of misadventure and there is a chance that the whale can be rescued,” Mr Hoseck said.

“Handling an animal as big as a humpback isn’t easy, and they can become distressed quickly making refloating attempts challenging.

The humpback whale was successfully refloated after becoming stranded off the coast of Hervey Bay.

“We also need to navigate the environment, including tides and sharks.

“Watching the whale swim away yesterday is a testament to the fantastic work by rangers and Sea World crews.

“After a long two days, we couldn’t have asked for a better result.”

Sea World head of marine sciences Wayne Phillips said it had been an amazing outcome and a credit to the commitment of all involved.

“While monitoring the whale and providing first-aid, we worked closely with the QPWS team to develop a plan to refloat the whale on the high tide on Tuesday afternoon,” Mr Phillips said.

“The plans were altered after the sighting of the tiger shark, with the teams working from the boats to deploy the slings, and this activity seemed to encourage the whale to gather enough momentum to move off the sandbank into deeper waters.

“These rescue operations are logistically challenging, and between our team and the QPWS rangers we had four vessels working around the whale with a team of 20 using specialised equipment and it was fantastic to see this animal swim off to continue its migration.”

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