MidCoast Council worked with other agencies to remove and dispose of a whale carcass that washed up on Old Bar Beach.
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The eight metre carcass was located on the beach on Wednesday morning, September 2.
Two sections of the remains, which were mostly skeletal, washed up about 500 metres north of the Old Bar surf club, with the head a further 250 metres north.
On Wednesday, council's community spaces, recreation and trades manager Dan Aldridge said council worked closely with the NSW Department of Primary Industry (Crown Lands) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to remove the carcass from the beach and dispose of it in landfill.
He said necessary approval was obtained from the agencies before the operation began.
Council believes it's the same whale that was spotted off the coast of Forster last weekend. More than a dozen sharks were filmed by fishermen feeding on the carcass.
A large great white then swam away from the carcass and bit into the propeller of a fishing boat.
The carcass was brought to the attention of authorities on Tuesday, September 1 when it was mistaken for a capsized boat.
About 3.15pm, Taree Old Bar Surf Life Saving Club members headed out to assess the situation and determined it was the carcass.
Hunter Local Land Services marine and estuary officer Brian Hughes had a brief look at the carcass after it washed ashore on Wednesday morning.
Given the state of the carcass, he said it would be near impossible to determine how it died.
"I could see some of the skeleton," Mr Hughes said.
He had never witnessed a washed up whale carcass that had broken up into bits.
"I've only seen about half a dozen whales wash up before," he added.
Normally, the body stays together when washed up or completely decomposes.
An Old Bar resident, who didn't want to be named, was alerted to the whale off the coast of Old Bar by friends on Tuesday.
With his binoculars handy, he watched as the Old Bar crew assessed the situation.
"They looked like they didn't want to get too close," he said.
A regular beachwalker, he was one of many people to have a firsthand look at the carcass on Wednesday morning.
Many took photos and made their own assumptions about how the whale died.
There were evident bite marks along the fin but the skeletal remains ensured any attempt to determine how the whale died would be nothing more than a guess.
Surfers and swimmers are still urged to be careful in the water with a likelihood of increased shark activity.