Beaches along the False Bay coast near Strand are safe and open again for bathers after a humpback whale carcass was removed from the Mosterts-baai beach front this weekend.
Water users were warned of increased shark activity due to the deceased whale, who was first spotted floating near the shore line on Friday afternoon.
It’s believed the whale, who was 15 metres long and weighed about 20 tonnes, died from natural causes due to its age.
The City of Cape Town’s coastal manager Gregg Oelofse says it took teams 12 hours to remove the whale carcass.
The NSRI and the City of Cape Town appealed to bathers, paddlers, surfers and sail boarders to be cautious in the Strand vicinity over the weekend, after the whale carcass was located close in-shore.
It is normal for a whale carcass to attract sharks.
The whale eventually beached on Friday evening and response teams were on sight on Saturday morning.
Teams worked hard to lift the carcass on a flat bed truck and it was transported to the Vissershok landfill site.
Oelofse says it’s not unusual this time of year for humpback carcasses to wash ashore, and they expect one of two more to wash ashore between now and February.
In January this year, a “supergroup” of more than 100 humpback whales was spotted along Cape Point and the False Bay coast.
The supergroup was out feeding after several months of not eating.
Jean Tresfon, an environmental photographer, had been flying his gyrocopter around the peninsula when he spotted the whales.
False Bay is the best place close to town for whale watching.
Best places to spot whales tend to be on higher vantage points along the False Bay coastline such as Cape Point, Boyes Drive between St James and Kalk Bay, and Clarence Drive between Gordon’s Bay and Rooi Els.
During the whale-watching season, which is usually between July to December, you might even be lucky enough to spot them close up if you take the train trip from Muizenberg to Simon’s Town.
Hermanus is rated as one of the top 12 whale-watching locations in the world by the World Wildlife Fund.
