Dead Whales

[soapdragon]

We were watching a couple of fascinating programmes last night about sharks and whales hosted by the delicious Ben Fogle and a blonde lady. As part of the programme a dead whale that had been 'salvaged' from the sea was brought ashore,loaded onto a lorry and transported to the north Devon coast. It was then towed out to The Celtic Deep - an area of very deep water off the coast of north Devon, Pembrokeshire and Ireland so that marine experts could monitor what happened next in terms of sharks and other marine life devouring it. Apparently this 'feeding off a dead carcase' thing has never been fully researched as it happens out at sea - hence the 'experiment.

 

I was absolutely shocked to hear that, when a dead whale is found off the coast, it is towed ashore and sent to landfill Can that be true? Surely it should be left where it is so that nature takes its course and the body becomes part of the eco system, feeding other marine life? It seemed absolutely bonkers that carcasses are removed from the sea; talk about messing with nature! I did wonder if the carcass would pose a prob to shipping but surely it would be no match for a reasonable sized boat?

 

I found this both puzzling and troubling - can anyone shed any light on this?

[Cat tails]

Big carcasses as those of whales can pose dangers to ships and vessels. If a small boat would be to hit a mostly submerged whale carcas, it can deliver quite some damage and even sink the ship. Because they float, you can't know where they turn up. Which could also be a popular beach (health hazard) or harbour.

 

Some countries blow up the whales in the water with explosives, but this also isn't without dangers to the ecosystem. Although it does return the nutrients to the sea.

[sjp]

I wan't going to watch it but I'm glad I did as said I found it fascinating never knew we got so many sharks, wales and Dolphins in UK waters. best part of 200 Blue sharks at one time in one place on our own door step it was no wonder the cameraman didn't want to get back in the boat. the fact that the dead whale will carry on feeding the wild life at the bottom of The Celtic Deep for a few years surprised me. I hope ITV do a follow up once the camera that got 'left' in the deep is retrieved

the bit about the dead whales going to landfill surprised me at first but as said it would partly be a hazard to navigation through how long would it have stayed afloat with out the flotation buoys but until this experiment was carried out one knew how many sharks We get in our waters to get rid of the body quick enough. but as well most dead whales in UK waters are probably to early in the season/year plus the cost would be a factor to

[Luvachicken]

We were watching a couple of fascinating programmes last night about sharks and whales hosted by the delicious Ben Fogle and a blonde lady.

 

The blonde lady is Ellie Harrison from Countryfile

I watched it too.

I didn't know that the whales swim so close to our country.

[Egluntyne]

The carcasses that were recently washed up on the east coast were brought to Sheffield (that makes absolutely no sense at all) and I believe that they were incinerated in the end, rather than sent to landfill, as there were too many of them and it would have caused problems.

 

Would have made more sense to return them to the deep.