❓ The Minister for Environment reports on the whale rescue operation in Geographe Bay, confirming its apparent success while acknowledging the loss of six whales and ongoing monitoring efforts. The Minister expresses gratitude to volunteers, local businesses, and CALM staff for their contributions.
AnsweredQoN 42Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
What has been the outcome of the whale rescue operation conducted in Geographe Bay over the past two days? Dr J.M. EDWARDS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for this question. I am pleased to be able to inform the member and the house that the whale rescue operation that was undertaken in the past 24 hours appears to have been successful. The general community was alarmed to hear on Sunday morning, among all the other dreadful news in the world, that there was a minor incident in Western Australia in which 19 long-finned pilot whales had beached themselves over an area of about 20 kilometres near Busselton. Local police officers detected this occurrence and informed the Department of Conservation and Land Management, which set up an incident management team. The idea behind the rescue was to get all the whales together in the one pod, because this type of whale has strong bonds with the members of its pod. Because the whales were spread out so far, some had to be transported to the main pod. That process did not conclude until 2.00 am on Monday. The whales were cared for during this time, but unfortunately six perished during the beaching. At around lunchtime yesterday, the whales were herded together and shepherded out to sea. Two immediately swam off to the north of Cape Naturaliste and disappeared into the greater ocean. The rest were watched until about six o’clock, when the boats that had been shepherding them out to sea had to return to the shore. CALM will continue to undertake aerial surveillance and check on the fate of this pod of whales, because there is some risk of them beaching themselves again. I particularly want to thank the around 350 volunteers who went into the cold water and worked day and night. Theirs was a magnificent effort to try to save as many whales as possible. In addition, I thank the small businesses, particularly in the Busselton area, that supplied provisions and other assistance to those volunteers. Finally, I thank the CALM staff who worked around the clock and showed that they could respond in a very professional manner to provide a good outcome, with which all Western Australians will be very pleased.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for this question. I am pleased to be able to inform the member and the house that the whale rescue operation that was undertaken in the past 24 hours appears to have been successful. The general community was alarmed to hear on Sunday morning, among all the other dreadful news in the world, that there was a minor incident in Western Australia in which 19 long-finned pilot whales had beached themselves over an area of about 20 kilometres near Busselton. Local police officers detected this occurrence and informed the Department of Conservation and Land Management, which set up an incident management team. The idea behind the rescue was to get all the whales together in the one pod, because this type of whale has strong bonds with the members of its pod. Because the whales were spread out so far, some had to be transported to the main pod. That process did not conclude until 2.00 am on Monday. The whales were cared for during this time, but unfortunately six perished during the beaching. At around lunchtime yesterday, the whales were herded together and shepherded out to sea. Two immediately swam off to the north of Cape Naturaliste and disappeared into the greater ocean. The rest were watched until about six o’clock, when the boats that had been shepherding them out to sea had to return to the shore. CALM will continue to undertake aerial surveillance and check on the fate of this pod of whales, because there is some risk of them beaching themselves again. I particularly want to thank the around 350 volunteers who went into the cold water and worked day and night. Theirs was a magnificent effort to try to save as many whales as possible. In addition, I thank the small businesses, particularly in the Busselton area, that supplied provisions and other assistance to those volunteers. Finally, I thank the CALM staff who worked around the clock and showed that they could respond in a very professional manner to provide a good outcome, with which all Western Australians will be very pleased.
I thank the member for this question. I am pleased to be able to inform the member and the house that the whale rescue operation that was undertaken in the past 24 hours appears to have been successful. The general community was alarmed to hear on Sunday morning, among all the other dreadful news in the world, that there was a minor incident in Western Australia in which 19 long-finned pilot whales had beached themselves over an area of about 20 kilometres near Busselton. Local police officers detected this occurrence and informed the Department of Conservation and Land Management, which set up an incident management team. The idea behind the rescue was to get all the whales together in the one pod, because this type of whale has strong bonds with the members of its pod. Because the whales were spread out so far, some had to be transported to the main pod. That process did not conclude until 2.00 am on Monday. The whales were cared for during this time, but unfortunately six perished during the beaching. At around lunchtime yesterday, the whales were herded together and shepherded out to sea. Two immediately swam off to the north of Cape Naturaliste and disappeared into the greater ocean. The rest were watched until about six o’clock, when the boats that had been shepherding them out to sea had to return to the shore. CALM will continue to undertake aerial surveillance and check on the fate of this pod of whales, because there is some risk of them beaching themselves again. I particularly want to thank the around 350 volunteers who went into the cold water and worked day and night. Theirs was a magnificent effort to try to save as many whales as possible. In addition, I thank the small businesses, particularly in the Busselton area, that supplied provisions and other assistance to those volunteers. Finally, I thank the CALM staff who worked around the clock and showed that they could respond in a very professional manner to provide a good outcome, with which all Western Australians will be very pleased.
Dr J.M. EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for this question. I am pleased to be able to inform the member and the house that the whale rescue operation that was undertaken in the past 24 hours appears to have been successful. The general community was alarmed to hear on Sunday morning, among all the other dreadful news in the world, that there was a minor incident in Western Australia in which 19 long-finned pilot whales had beached themselves over an area of about 20 kilometres near Busselton. Local police officers detected this occurrence and informed the Department of Conservation and Land Management, which set up an incident management team. The idea behind the rescue was to get all the whales together in the one pod, because this type of whale has strong bonds with the members of its pod. Because the whales were spread out so far, some had to be transported to the main pod. That process did not conclude until 2.00 am on Monday. The whales were cared for during this time, but unfortunately six perished during the beaching. At around lunchtime yesterday, the whales were herded together and shepherded out to sea. Two immediately swam off to the north of Cape Naturaliste and disappeared into the greater ocean. The rest were watched until about six o’clock, when the boats that had been shepherding them out to sea had to return to the shore. CALM will continue to undertake aerial surveillance and check on the fate of this pod of whales, because there is some risk of them beaching themselves again. I particularly want to thank the around 350 volunteers who went into the cold water and worked day and night. Theirs was a magnificent effort to try to save as many whales as possible. In addition, I thank the small businesses, particularly in the Busselton area, that supplied provisions and other assistance to those volunteers. Finally, I thank the CALM staff who worked around the clock and showed that they could respond in a very professional manner to provide a good outcome, with which all Western Australians will be very pleased.
I thank the member for this question. I am pleased to be able to inform the member and the house that the whale rescue operation that was undertaken in the past 24 hours appears to have been successful. The general community was alarmed to hear on Sunday morning, among all the other dreadful news in the world, that there was a minor incident in Western Australia in which 19 long-finned pilot whales had beached themselves over an area of about 20 kilometres near Busselton. Local police officers detected this occurrence and informed the Department of Conservation and Land Management, which set up an incident management team. The idea behind the rescue was to get all the whales together in the one pod, because this type of whale has strong bonds with the members of its pod. Because the whales were spread out so far, some had to be transported to the main pod. That process did not conclude until 2.00 am on Monday. The whales were cared for during this time, but unfortunately six perished during the beaching. At around lunchtime yesterday, the whales were herded together and shepherded out to sea. Two immediately swam off to the north of Cape Naturaliste and disappeared into the greater ocean. The rest were watched until about six o’clock, when the boats that had been shepherding them out to sea had to return to the shore. CALM will continue to undertake aerial surveillance and check on the fate of this pod of whales, because there is some risk of them beaching themselves again. I particularly want to thank the around 350 volunteers who went into the cold water and worked day and night. Theirs was a magnificent effort to try to save as many whales as possible. In addition, I thank the small businesses, particularly in the Busselton area, that supplied provisions and other assistance to those volunteers. Finally, I thank the CALM staff who worked around the clock and showed that they could respond in a very professional manner to provide a good outcome, with which all Western Australians will be very pleased.
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