Updated ,first published
Authorities have closed two Sydney beaches and warned residents of increased shark activity after a whale carcass was discovered floating close to shore in the eastern suburbs.
Lifeguards reported the dead whale floating in Lurline Bay, a rocky enclave between Coogee and Maroubra, just before 8am on Thursday.
The council has closed Maroubra and Coogee beaches until further notice and is considering restricting access to the surrounding rock shelf walkway to manage crowds.
Randwick mayor Dr Clare Willington said the council was working with the Gamay Rangers and NSW Department of Primary Industries on managing the carcass while being culturally respectful.
“The whale is an important totem animal to the local Bidjigal people,” Willington said.
“This is a natural occurrence and in time nature will deal with the carcass. Our focus is to manage and limit any impact to swimmers and surfers at nearby beaches.”
Whale carcasses can attract sharks, which can detect decomposing flesh and blood from kilometres away and come in close to shore to feed.
The carcass appears to be an adult or subadult humpback and is fairly decomposed.
“It looks like it could have been dead for a while and washed in,” whale scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta said. “I would strongly advise against swimming.”
The washed-up carcass coincides with the likely return of bull sharks to Sydney’s waters.
The species migrate north to Queensland during the cooler months and swim back towards Sydney when coastal temperatures reach 19 or 20 degrees.
While the sharks prefer temperatures of 22 degrees, and peak in activity during January and February, research has shown the first sharks are arriving earlier in October each year – and staying around Sydney about a fortnight longer than they used to – as water temperatures climb under climate change.
In April, a 25-tonne sperm whale washed up near Era Beach and forced the closure of all beaches in the Royal National Park due to the risk posed by scavenging sharks.
An estimated 50,000 humpbacks are migrating south to the Antarctic after travelling to warm tropical waters near the Great Barrier Reef to breed and give birth.
Once back in polar waters the whales will gorge on krill, building up blubber over summer to prepare for their next hemisphere-spanning migration in winter. Coles and Woolworths recently stopped selling krill oil supplements amid a global campaign drawing attention to the industry’s effect on wildlife including whales.
Humpbacks were hunted to near-extinction but have staged a spectacular recovery since whaling stopped in the 1960s, increasing their population by 10 per cent each year.
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