Rockingham whale carcass to be towed to Henderson before being disposed of at landfill facility

Wednesday, 13 December 2023 08:46

By Monique Welhan

The sperm whale sadly died after becoming stranded on a sandbar off Rockingham Beach. PIC: 9News

The mammoth task of removing a 30-tonne whale carcass off Rockingham Beach will get underway today.

The 18-metre sperm whale died on Tuesday morning after becoming stranded on a sandbar.

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) Incident Controller Mark Cugley said the plan is to tow the deceased whale to Henderson.

"Today we're going to be relocating the whale from where it is at the moment, about 13kms to the north into a facility in Henderson," Mr Cugley told West Coast Radio.

"We'll have access to deep water that's right up to a boat ramp or slipway...and we're hoping to get it entirely out of the water by the afternoon.

"Our scientists will already be at that facility up in Henderson ready to do some measurements, take some samples, do some testing on the carcass, which is really important for our learning about both this individual and sperm whales more generally."

Mr Cugley said from there the whale will be transported to a landfill facility.

"We will wrap it up and then in the next 24-hours we will be able to move it safely through to an appropriate landfill facility, working with the City of Cockburn and the City of Rockingham," he said.

Rockingham Beach remains closed.

Swimmers are being urged to stay out of the water with a number of small sharks spotted circling the carcass on Wednesday morning.