[MARINE_BIOLOGY_INTERNATIONAL] Weather thwarts Australian whale rescue

Whale dies as weather cripples Australian rescue
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
SYDNEY — One of two huge sperm whales stranded in a southern Australian harbour died overnight and rescue crews working on the second had to pull out early Tuesday because of bad weather, officials said.
The two were among a pod of 26 sperm whales and two minke whales swept into Macquarie Harbour and onto nearby Ocean Beach at the weekend on the northwest coast of Tasmania island, Australia's southernmost state.
Twenty-two sperm whales stranded at isolated Ocean Beach died, as did the minke whales, while two of four washed onto a sandbar in the harbour on Saturday were refloated and swam back out to sea.
But two remained trapped and one died overnight, the Parks and Wildlife Service said.
"We've got one whale surviving, one of the sperm whales trapped in the harbour died overnight," a parks service spokeswoman told AFP.
Crews worked throughout the morning to try to free the surviving mammal but efforts had to be called off as conditions deteriorated sharply, with high seas and gale-force winds building, she said.
"For the safety of the crews and the animals the rescue attempt has been called off for the rest of the day," she added.
"We'll monitor the animal all day today to make sure that it's okay, and then we'll look at the weather forecast in the morning and make a decision about whether we go out again."
The spokeswoman described its condition as "reasonable".
The dead whale was still on the sandbar awaiting expert advice on whether and how to move it.
She said the 22 dead sperm whales -- each weighing two tonnes and up to 12 metres (40 feet) long -- would be left on Ocean Beach, just around the corner from the harbour, to let "nature take its course".
Seven sperm whales were saved after a similar stranding in the harbour in 2007 and rescuers are confident they can again free the remaining giant mammal.
Whale beachings are relatively common in Australia and they usually occur in the summer months, particularly around Tasmania, but scientists do not know why they happen.