Operation Whale: Relocating carcass to landfill could cost the City of Greater Geraldton up to $50,000

The removal of a 24-tonne whale carcass from a popular beach could cost the City of Greater Geraldton up to $50,000 after the operation required three cranes, an excavator and other heavy machinery to take it to landfill. Residents have taken to social media to question why the city chose to send the male humpback whale at Greys Beach near Separation Point — the heaviest to wash up on the Geraldton coast for more than a decade — to landfill rather than towing it back out to sea. While the landfill option proved to be a massive logistical challenge, mayor Jerry Clune said there were too many risks sending the carcass back to the ocean. Mr Clune said the city had followed Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction guidelines, and despite locals in the marine industry putting their hands up to tow the whale by boat, there were concerns it was too heavy for them to move while out of the water. “It was in a bit of a hole where it was so it wasn’t as simple as hooking it on and towing it out, you would have needed a rather large vessel ... I doubt the fishing boat would have had the capability to do that,” he said. “There’s also the risk of it falling to bits.” Taking the carcass out to sea could have also created a shipping hazard, risked the dead mammal drifting back to shore, or attracted sharks, Mr Clune said. “It’s all about eliminating the risks. Ideally under the guidelines, if we can pick it up and dispose of it in our waste facility, then that’s what we will be doing in future,” he said. “On the remote sites you just let nature take its course. Where there’s a high residential population, then we will have to dispose of it.” Mr Clune estimated the removal bill could come in anywhere between $20,000 to $50,000, but that was an estimate until the city received invoices from contractors. The carcass was first spotted on Monday, July 15. The removal process commenced one week later, but after underestimating the 11m whale’s weight, more machinery was called in to get the job done. Mr Clune said an excavator with a 20-tonne weight capacity “couldn’t even lift it off the ground”, estimating the whale was about 24 tonnes. It took crews more than an hour to get it lifted and secured on Tuesday. Mr Clune confirmed the carcass had been buried at the Meru Waste Facility to manage the smell while it decomposed. According to a DBCA spokesperson, guidelines worldwide consider burial as a safe means of disposal, in the interest of public safety. “While all disposal options are considered on a case-by-case basis, towing a carcass out to sea may not be viable in the interest of public safety, including the shark risk to swimmers on beaches and divers offshore,” they said. “Carcass parts are extremely difficult to track, can become navigational hazards, and are likely to wash up at multiple locations as the Leeuwin current carries them back to shore.” The city is looking at budgeting funds for a management plan to prepare for future incidents. “We’ve dealt with them previously and it’s been easy to deal with, but because of the scale of this one, it presented all sorts of problems. So we’ll have a plan drawn up and certainly know which way to move on it in future if it ever does happen again,” Mr Clune said. “And I guess it will. It’s just a matter of what size ones will decide to visit.”