Whale carcass removed from Sea Point shore

Last Thursday a nine-meter humpback whale beached on the rocks of the Sea Point shoreline and the NSRI, the Department of Environment and SAPS dive unit worked together to successfully remove it.

At the request of the City of Cape Town, the NSRI prepared an operation in cooperation with the police dive unit to tow the whale carcass at the next high tide at around 7.35pm, to the Oceana Power Boat Club where CoCT solid waste management were arranging to remove the carcass, according to a NSRI report.

However, the whale carcass was towed out to sea and released at a distance of about three nautical miles off-shore and at a depth of 50 meters, the towing rope to the carcass was released and the carcass sank.

The City’s Coastal Management Department has confirmed that this is not an unusual occurrence as there are many humpback whales along the coastline and when there are this many, it is common for one or two dead carcasses to wash ashore.