“Burying whales close to popular surf spots is the equivalent of placing a 70 foot pepperoni pizza between a Boy Scout troop and a den of hungry grizzly bears”.
It looks like shark specialists with CSIRO’s Marine Research agree with the surfers – they despatched a light aircraft to track great white shark activity in the area where this week’s beachings took place.
The oozing whale oil will attract sharks, not only now, but for a few more years. Oils from a buried whale at San Onofre State Beach in 2003 attracted great white sharks to the area even months after the burial — and you could see the oil slick on the surface of the water being carried out to sea.
Burying whales may put surfers on hook instead
KING ISLAND is home to a beach break that was voted by the magazine Surfing Life as one of the top 10 waves in the world. The wave – Martha Lavinia – is named after a shipwreck.
However, Parks and Wildlife Service’s choice of a beachside burial for 118 whale and dolphin carcasses from the King Island stranding is likely to attract sharks and put swimmers and surfers at risk.
Excavators will help rescuers and volunteers to dig an area just above Naracoopa Beach where the carcasses of the sea mammals have remained since Sunday.
Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service manager Chris Arthur told ninemsn the decision had been made after consulting with the local council and its residents.
However US surfer magazine surfermag.com, in a 2008 story titled RAISING A STINK Burying Beached Whales Means Shark Attacks says
“Burying whales close to popular surf spots is the equivalent of placing a 70 foot pepperoni pizza between a Boy Scout troop and a den of hungry grizzly bears”.
It looks like shark specialists with CSIRO’s Marine Research agree with the surfers – they despatched a light aircraft to track great white shark activity in the area where this week’s beachings took place.
The oozing whale oil will attract sharks, not only now, but for a few more years. Oils from a buried whale at San Onofre State Beach in 2003 attracted great white sharks to the area even months after the burial — and you could see the oil slick on the surface of the water being carried out to sea.
Buried whale will rot, stink and attract sharks http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/12/buried-whale-will-rot-stink-and-attract-sharks
Surf’s up on King Island (ABC News)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/23/2253488.htm
Beachside burial for dead whales (ninemsn)
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/763659/beachside-burial-for-dead-whales
RAISING A STINK Burying Beached Whales Means Shark Attacks (surfermag.com)
http://www.surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/beached-whale-shark-attacks
