{"id":218343,"date":"2025-10-16T18:31:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/218343\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T18:31:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:31:28","slug":"boat-approaches-southern-right-whales-off-albany-coast-in-wa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/218343\/","title":{"rendered":"Boat approaches southern right whales off Albany coast in WA"},"content":{"rendered":"

A boat was spotted getting too close to a southern right whale and her calf in the latest concerning close call for the protected species.<\/p>\n

The pair were resting in Albany’s King George Sound, about 430 kilometres south of Perth, when the boat approached on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

West Australian guidelines say swimmers should stay 100 metres from whales, and vessels 300 metres.<\/p>\n

The buffer zone for drones is 60 metres in any direction.<\/p>\n

The latest incident has sparked more calls for the public to respect distancing requirements as interest in the animals increases.<\/p>\n

Touching, disturbing, interfering with the natural movement of, or breaching separation distances for whales is prohibited in WA, with penalties of up to $500,000.<\/p>\n

Not the first encounter<\/p>\n

Wednesday’s incident was the latest in which members of the public came too close to the protected species.<\/p>\n

In August, two female southern right whales and their calves were spotted relaxing just metres from the shore at Leighton Beach in Perth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Onlookers reported seeing jet skis, paddleboarders and boats getting within metres of the animals.<\/p>\n

The Department Biodiversity Conservation Attractions (DBCA) issued reminders to comply with state legislation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A paddleboarder gets too close to a southern right at Leighton Beach in September. (Supplied: Jared Doyle)<\/p>\n

In September, a paddleboarder got too close<\/a> to a southern right whale mother and calf at Point Ann, about 538 kilometres south-east of Perth.<\/p>\n

In footage captured of the incident, the adult whale swam directly at the paddleboarder before leaving the area.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A paddleboarder was filmed close to a southern right whale at Point Ann. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

More education needed<\/p>\n

Macquarie University whale scientist Vanessa Pirotta said current penalties were sufficient, but emphasised the need to educate the public that getting too close to whales could still lead to serious consequences and, in some cases, even injuries.<\/p>\n

“It’s so important we give these animals space, in case they show some sort of behavioural response or they might be stressed at times,” Dr Pirotta said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said flying drones near whales also posed risks.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Vanessa Pirotta has conducted whale research on WA’s south coast. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

DBCA regional wildlife officer Steven Leeder said people who breached the separation distances risked disturbing the whales.<\/p>\n

“They also risk injuries themselves \u2014 they are massive animals that can cause catastrophic injuries,” he said.\"A<\/p>\n

The WA government’s guide to whale watching details safe approach distances. (Supplied: DBCA)<\/p>\n

“And finally the risk to the general public is that people that do breach separation distances and disturb the whales, they’ll take off from these areas and then everybody else won’t have opportunities to have a look at them as well.”<\/p>\n

Mr Leeder said the public needed to balance its interest in the animals with respect for their natural behaviour.<\/p>\n

“We really encourage and ask people to respect the distances and put them in front of their own desires to get as close to the animals as possible,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Person<\/p>\n

Steven Leeder says whales can cause “catastrophic” injuries to people who get too close. (ABC Great Southern: Rhys Jones)<\/p>\n

He said people were still expected to abide by the distances, even if the whales approached them, by moving away from the animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A boat was spotted getting too close to a southern right whale and her calf in the latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[40358,64,63,133320,107754,46285,133318,133319,107194,128,11696,45,338],"class_list":["post-218343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-albany","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-breaching","tag-close-encounters","tag-dbca","tag-king-george-sound","tag-leighton-beach","tag-point-ann","tag-science","tag-southern-right-whale","tag-wa-news","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}