The whale washed up on Newbiggin East Beach around 7pm on Wednesday night after it was spotted floating in the sea near Cambois earlier on
A whale which has washed up on a Northumberland beach is thought to have been dead “for some time”. A police officer was on Newbiggin-by-the-Sea East beach on Thursday afternoon aiming to keep the public away from the beached giant.
The whale was first spotted floating in the waters near Cambois on Wednesday. Mark Southerton, chief officer at Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation (NIFCA), said that one of the organisation’s vessel’s had been alerted to the whale on Wednesday afternoon.
He said that there were no signs of any entanglements in fishing equipment on its tail or pectoral fins, and that the whale appeared to have been dead for some time when it was sighted. It is understood to have washed up on Newbiggin beach around 7pm on Wednesday evening.
A dead whale floating in the North Sea off Cambois(Image: Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation)
Richard Martin, a volunteer at Newbiggin RNLI, said that the smell of the whale was “obnoxious.” Whales have washed up on Northumberland beaches previously, with at least three in the summer of 2021.
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A dead whale has washed up on Newbiggin East Beach(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
Dead whales on beaches are a “significant health risk” and pose a health hazard from bacteria so should not be approached under any circumstances. It is also a criminal offence to interfere with the carcass, as whales are Royal Fish and considered property of the Receiver of the Wreck.
ChronicleLive has contacted Northumberland County Council and Northumbria Police for comment.
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