A festering whale carcass that washed up on one of Perth’s most popular beaches will be removed and taken to landfill tomorrow.
Beaches in the Town of Cambridge remain closed after the dead whale washed up at City Beach early yesterday morning, attracting multiple sharks within metres of the shoreline.
Mayor Gary Mack confirmed contractors would use heavy machinery to begin the “complex and potentially risky” task of removing the 13-metre long, 31-tonne whale at around 10am tomorrow morning.
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Mr Mack urged people to stop flying drones and to avoid the area, after rangers saw a person sitting on the smelly carcass, which has attracted huge crowds.
“That is highly inappropriate, it’s not a toy, it’s not a play thing, it is a dead animal that needs to be disposed of in an appropriate way and as soon as possible,” he said.
Town facing huge bill
In 2014, the state government ended up paying half of the $188,000 bill to remove a whale carcass from Scarborough Beach after a stoush erupted over who should bear the cost.
It took three days to have that carcass cleaned up and removed.
“I’ve been warned by people that were involved in the Scarborough incident … that it is going to be expensive,” Mr Mack said.
“But one thing we do know is that we can’t wait, we’ve got to get that carcass removed as soon as possible and that’s our intent.”
The decomposing whale carcass remained on the beach this morning. (ABC News: Lucy Murray)
Mr Mack said the council would ask the state government to contribute to the cost of removing it.
Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis said she had not been briefed on the cost, which was a matter for the Town of Cambridge and the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA).
“Generally local governments manage these types of things on beaches, that is part of their responsibility, but I won’t provide further comment,” she said.
Dozens of people gathered at City Beach on Tuesday to see the carcass. (ABC News: Courtney Withers )
‘Opportunistic tagging opportunity’
Ms Jarvis confirmed drum lines had been placed in the water in a bid to tag sharks circling the beach, which she described as a “mammoth task”.
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“We make use of opportunistic tagging opportunities … and we’ll tag as many sharks as we can,” she said.
“It is quite an onerous task, pulling a 3-metre shark up against the boat and essentially doing minor surgery on it,” she said.
DPIRD said a 3.7-metre long shark had been tagged and released off Floreat beach today, the 231st shark to have been tagged since the program began in 2009.
A shark is tagged off City Beach, where a beached whale carcass has attracted several predators to the area. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
Choppy conditions and bad weather made it difficult for fisheries officers to catch and kill the shark that fatally mauled swimmer Greg James O’Neill at Sorrento Beach earlier this month.
Carcass spotted offshore
Ms Jarvis was quizzed on why the carcass was not towed out to sea when it was first spotted floating offshore before it washed up, saying that was a matter for the DBCA.
“My understanding is if the carcass is dragged out further in these type of weather conditions, it increases the chances of the carcass being broken up and washing back onto shore and therefore causing more shark activity,” she said.
Authorities will try to tag sharks lured by the whale carcass. (ABC News)
It could be days before City Beach and Floreat Beach are reopened, with Mr Mack saying that would not happen until every part of the carcass was removed.
He said people should be mindful that oils from the carcass would remain in the water even after it was taken away.
An exclusion zone will be expanded tomorrow from the southern end of the Town of Cambridge boundary to the southern end of City Beach, to ensure the safety of workers and the public while the carcass is removed.