Boat allegedly ‘ran over’, tried to ‘herd’ whale and calf out to sea at Ballina wall

“It was shocking, I’m a bit teary about it after seeing that. It was such a joy to see this whale and calf and the shock of them being run over was just awful.”

A boat ‘run over’ a whale with her calf at North Wall in Ballina .

Witnesses have said a boat skipper accidentally ‘ran over’ a whale calf and tried to ‘herd’ the mother whale and calf away from the Ballina wall on Monday.

The incident was witnessed by people enjoying the day at the Ballina wall.

One of them was Ballina resident Dani Suslov.

Ms Sulov said she was walking out to Lighthouse Beach with friends at around noon when the incident occurred.

“We saw the whale and the calf at the bar, and we were enjoying seeing them together, but three or four minutes later, to our left, we saw a white twin engine boat with a man in his 20s with no lifejacket on, coming in from the sea,” she said.

“The young man on the boat did not see the whale and the calf, and he went right over the calf, which was really upsetting.

“Mum was just underneath.

“It was shocking, I’m a bit teary about it after seeing that.

“It was such a joy to see this whale and calf and the shock of them being run over was just awful.

“I was so in shock I could not even take any photos.

“I am a member of ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia), so I know that, by law, people need to stay away from marine mammals, so us and other people at the bar started yelling at him to stay away, but instead he went and tried to herd them out to sea.”

Ms Suslov said the whale and its calf finally disappeared out to sea and the boat went up the river.

“Driving home, I saw another four whales out in the sea, so it’s a great time for people to be reminded that they need to stay 300m away from all marine mammals,” she said.

Last week, a humpback whale and her calf were seen up the Richmond River, around Burns Point ferry and even up to Pimlico.

NSW National Parks was contacted for comment.