By Anthony Segaert
A humpback whale has died after it washed ashore at a Lennox Head beach, about 10 kilometres north of Ballina, on Saturday.
The six-metre humpback, which was beached at the northern end of Seven Mile Beach, died despite maritime rescuers spending much of the day scrambling to get the 30-tonne creature back into the water.
Rescue workers spent all day Saturday trying to save the whale.Credit: Brent Wells/Live 4 Adventure
Authorities had hoped an evening high tide would help take the animal back out to sea as they used incoming waves to attempt to move it, but the whale died just before 7pm.
Teams from the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia, SeaWorld and Ballina Shire Council spent much of Saturday at the scene, providing first aid for the whale in the form of shade, posture and pain relief.
Efforts to remove the whale from the beach will begin on Sunday morning. Cranes and trucks are often used to remove whale carcasses from beaches, but tides and the sheer weight of the animals make removals complex operations.
The humpback whale was stranded on Seven Mile Beach at Lennox Head, near Ballina.Credit: Brent Wells/Live 4 Adventure
Dean Fuchs, the co-founder of local whale watching company Out of the Blue Adventures, said it was unusual for whales to get stranded during their annual migration north.
“[If they’re stuck] they’ve generally made the wrong turn,” Fuchs said of the 40,000 whales that pass the coast each year.
He said large swells over the past few days might have disoriented the whale.
“Or, it could be sick or injured and had to come close to shore,” he said.
Some locals were not surprised to see the humpback beached on Saturday. Several told the Herald they had seen whales much closer than usual to the shore over the past two days.
Humpback whales are often spotted off the NSW coast at this time of year, as hundreds of whales a day move past the state’s beaches as part of their migration to warmer waters. They begin breeding around the South Pacific region, before heading back south later in the year.
The movements make close encounters – like the one experienced by a Sydney kayaker recently – more common during the middle of the year.
Last year, a rare 760-kilogram beaked whale was found dead on the beach, leaving marine scientists scratching their heads. Beaked whales rarely interact with humans or boats, spending most of their time up to two kilometres below water.
Whales dying on NSW beaches are not uncommon occurrences. A 10-metre juvenile humpback died in early June this year at Lighthouse Beach on the NSW Mid North Coast, and a baby humpback died late last year at Oxley Beach, also on the Mid North Coast, late in 2022.
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