Up to 25 whales have become stranded around Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s West Coast after a night of severe weather.
NRE Tas say four stranded pilot whales remain on a remote beach in the area, with NRE officers now assessing the situation.
Local Wayne McDermott said around 25 pilot whales were pushed into the harbour during last night’s severe weather.
He said salmon workers were quick to arrive on the scene after people on the World Heritage Cruises ship spotted the whales.
“[We] herded them off the sand as they were in around 2.5m of water … We then spent the long four hours trying to navigate them through the narrow channel and out Hells Gates which was far more trickier than I’d hoped,” McDermott said.
“As we rounded Bonnet Island they decided to start diving and moving about and made it very hard to keep them heading in the right direction.”
He said the whales then pushed him into the rocks and, with the tide going out, they were drawn to the rocks and beached themselves.
“Thankfully all but one made it off the rocks and we managed to squeeze them through the narrow entrance of Hells Gates and out to freedom,” he said.
“Sadly the one died as he’d cut himself pretty bad on the jagged rocks.”
