The whale rescue effort on Tasmania's west coast has managed to refloat over 30 of the animals which beached themselves — but around 200 could not be saved.
Hundreds of pilot whales became stranded yesterday at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour, known as Hells Gates.
It was two years to the day since Australia's worst recorded whale stranding, also in the same harbour with the same species.
Most of the whales are stranded on Ocean Beach while some are on a nearby sand flat within the harbour.
At a press conference of Thursday, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service incident controller Brendon Clark said five whales died overnight, leaving just 35 still alive on the beach this morning.
He said the whales were in a more exposed area of the coast, unlike the stranding in 2020, which happened in "sheltered waters of the harbour" — now considered the worst stranding event in Australia's history.
"Unfortunately we do have a high mortality rate, predominantly due to the exposed conditions on the beach," Mr Clark said.
Authorities said all 35 of the surviving whales had been taken from the beach to deeper waters, with two later "re-stranding" — returning to the shore.
Today's operation had involved taking the whales "with the best chance of survival" from the sand, via vehicle, to the more sheltered waters at nearby Macquarie Heads, to be put into slings and tied to boats, which then tow them out to deeper water.
The job of lifting the whales had been made easier with the help of a "mechanical aid", on loan from an aquaculture company, with Mr Clark praising local salmon producers for their assistance, in the form of equipment, people and boats.
Kris Carlyon from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas), said the whales which had survived into Thursday would be "stressed".
"They've had a long time on the beach. Our priority has been getting them upright, stabilised, cool and wet," he said,
Dr Carlyon said despite the on site personnel being trained, it was "always confronting".
"It will probably hit a lot of us afterwards, but we have systems in place to support staff and volunteers," he said.
Dr Carlyon said there was no way to tell whether the animals on the beach were of the same pod as that which was beached in 2020, as tagging of animals two years ago would have fallen away.
He said measures such as acoustic devices to ward away whales from future strandings had been looked at, but so far had not proved "feasible" in practice.
Whales 'squeaking', towels keeping them wet
Staff from aquaculture companies Petuna and Huon were also among the first at the scene yesterday, helping move whales back to sea.
Tom Mountney from Petuna Aquaculture said authorities and volunteers were preparing the whales to go back to sea.
"We're just sort of righting the alive whales, getting them up the beach and then … there will be a bit of plan of attack made this afternoon and evening to potentially get them back in the water tomorrow [Thursday]," he said on Wednesday.
"From [Thursday] we will be using our vessels, getting the whales in the water and trying to get them out several hundred meters off the coast."
Mr Mountney said rescuers were using sheets and buckets to keep the whales wet until they could be moved back to the ocean.
There was "a little bit of splashing" as well as "growling" and "squeaking" coming from the whales.
"We are probably a bit desensitised because of deja vu from last time," he said.
On September 21, 2020, about 470 pilot whales became beached in Macquarie Harbour.
On that occasion, just over 100 whales were able to be saved.
"We have all the gear ready for the boats, we know exactly what we need to do."
Mr Mountney said the weather was mild on Wednesday, compared to the "freezing" conditions rescuers had to deal with in 2020.
Huon Aquaculture's manager in Strahan, Linton Kringle, said the whale stranding had shaken the town again.
"Probably more of a 'not again' sort of moment," he said.
"Still seeing some [remains of] whales on the beach from the previous one … is [a] reminder of what happened," Mr Kringle said.
"I think Strahan itself would like to move past it."
Even though the rescue continues, potential volunteers and well-meaning members of the public are being urged to stay clear of the area.
"The most important thing, if you're not invited by parks or one of the organisations helping, is to stay away," West Coast Council general manager David Midson said.
"Having extra people can really hinder how they go about their rescue efforts."
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment said if any member of the public found a deceased whale, they should leave it alone.
"Whales are a protected species, even once deceased, and it is an offence to interfere with a carcass," the department said.
Second Tasmanian stranding this week
Earlier this week at least 14 sperm whales were reported stranded in another event in the state.
The group of young males were discovered on Monday on King Island, off the state's north-west coast.
All 14 had already died.
Marine expert Vanessa Pirotta said the causes of whale strandings were still not well understood.
"Whale strandings are a complete mystery," Dr Pirotta said, "but what's really unusual here is that this is the second stranding for this week."
She said with pilot whales, which are highly social animals, there were a few common theories about what leads them astray.
"So one could be misnavigation," Dr Pirotta said, adding environmental factors could also potentially come into it.
"The fact that we've seen similar species at the same time in the same location reoccurring in terms of stranding … might provide some sort of indication that there might be something environmental here," she said.
"The reality is we just don't know at this stage."
