Whale beached as, bro

SHOCKED beach users were greeted with the carcass of a giant dead whale on Fairhaven beach last week.

The adult sperm whale carcass was spotted off shore on Monday afternoon and had washed ashore by Tuesday morning.

VicEmergency issued a warning advising people not to swim in the area due the carcass which can attract sharks closer to the shore more than normal.

An incident management team was established to remove the 18-metre carcass from the beach, which involved dissecting the carcasss on the beach and moving it to the Anglesea tip.

The clean up was finished by Wednesday morning. Incident Controller Barry James was pleased with the effort.

“The scale of this operation required the involvement of numerous stakeholders and we thank them and the community for their cooperation and support over the last three days,” he said.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP) worked closely with Traditional Land Owners to respect the cultural significance of a whale coming ashore on Country. Small pieces of the whale were buried at the beach to respect where its journey ended.

Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation CEO Markus Clarke said it was great to see customs and beliefs of Traditional Land Owners honoured.

“The Incident Management Team established by DEWLP showed Traditional Owners considerable respect, allowing us to carry out our ancient ceremonial practices,” he said.

“Yesterday’s activities on Country were a testament to the respectful and collaborative processes which have been established to benefit all parties.”
Eastern Maar citizen Ebony Hickey attended the ceremony for the whale.

“Being able to practice our traditional beliefs alongside the response crew and the onlookers proved to be a powerful send off for this splendiferous deep ocean creature,” she said.

“Often our cultural values are overlooked in emergency responses, yesterday on Gadubanud Country was proof that we can have a respectful, mutual and genuine relationship that is beneficial to all involved.”

Due to the state and size of the carcass what caused the death of the whale is unknown.