Municipal manager, Lauren Waring explained that a beached whale at Buffalo Bay is probably attracting the sharks to local waters. She gave her assurance that the municipality is working with SANParks, Cape Nature, Eden District Municipality, the Department of Environmental Affairs and private specialists to assess and manage the situation.
Graeme Harding, NSRI Knysna station commander reports that volunteer recue duty crew responded to reports of an "upturned hull of a boat floating five nautical miles due South, off-shore of Knysna Heads". On closer inspection it was established that the upturned boat was in fact the carcass of a 14m Southern Right whale.
At about 17:00 yesterday (Wednesday, April 11) the whale's carcass was found where it had washed up on rocks at Buffalo Bay. This morning the Department of Environmental Affairs (Oceans and Coasts) requested the NSRI to investigate the possibility of removing the carcass and towing it out to sea.
Attempts to remove the carcass continue.
This photo of the beached whale is from the NSRI's website. Photo: Graeme Harding, Knysna NSRI.
