About 80 whales and Bottlenose dolphins beached themselves

Whales lie along a stretch of beach in WA's South-West following a mass beaching. Photo: Tim Brown, www.aerophoto.com.au

A new fear has surfaced around a pod of whales stranded on a WA beach, with several dead whales washing up this morning with bite marks.

The Department of Environment and Conservation has warned rescue volunteers who have rushed to the area - who are already battling rough seas and strong rips - to stay out of the water, amid fears the dead mammals have attracted sharks.

Around 80 whales, thought to have been false killer whales, now identified as long-finned pilot whales, are stranded along the coastline of Hamelin Bay, WA.

The Augusta-Margaret River Mail reports rescuers are attempting to release 11 surviving long-finned pilot whales into Flinders Bay in South-West WA this morning after about 80 whales and bottlenose dolphins beached themselves over six kilometres of coast at Hamelin Bay, south of Margaret River, yesterday.

About 55 were found dead yesterday and 14 died overnight, leaving 11 survivors including a mother and baby.

Another nine whales washed up dead at Hamelin Bay this morning, with some showing bite marks.

About 100 people hurried to the site yesterday, including volunteers, Department of Environment and Conservation crew, police, vets and scientists.

The whales were in varying states of injury and stress, and it was decided to move them by truck to the calmer conditions of Flinders Bay to release them together in a pod.

The whales, originally thought to have been false killer whales, were identified and confirmed as long-finned pilot whales by DEC marine mammal specialist Doug Coughran, when he arrived at the site yesterday afternoon.

Both species are very similar in colouring and identification characteristics.

Laura Sinclair of the DEC information services unit said there had been some difficulty accessing some whales in a rocky area.

Carcass disposal operations using trucks filled with wet sand and foam mattresses have also begun to remove the dead whales from the beach.

Sergeant Andy Allison of Augusta police attended Hamelin Bay yesterday to conduct traffic management and crowd control.

He reported some verbal abuse towards DEC and Augusta-Margaret River Shire staff who had closed the access to the beach except to volunteers with the required equipment, such as boots to cope with cold night conditions in the water.

"People need to look at the bigger picture," he said.

Flinders Bay access was also shut down so the rescue operations could be carried out more easily.

Between 1984 and 2005 there were 21 mass strandings of whales and dolphins along the coast of WA, mostly between Busselton and Augusta.

In April 2005, 19 Long-Finned Pilot Whales were stranded in Busselton, while in June 2005, followed by 123 False Killer Whales stranded in the same area.

In 1986 a rescue of false killer whales in Augusta made world news.

Of a school of 114 whales, 96 survived and were returned safely back into the ocean.

Augusta-Margaret River Mail