Latest news with #SydneyHarbour

ABC News
a day ago
- General
- ABC News
Southern right whale calf hit by boat at Stanwell Park, NSW
A whale calf has been struck by a boat off the New South Wales South Coast weeks after its mother was hit by another vessel. Video of the incident shows the southern right whale, which was with its mother, being hit by a small boat off Stanwell Park. The impact of the collision knocked the three occupants of the boat off their feet. Directly after the strike the calf can be seen diving deeper into the water to rest near its mother. Michael Hatte, who filmed the incident, said he and his wife were observing the whales with a drone from the regulation 100-metre distance. "I was absolutely shocked, I froze," he said. The Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans (ORRCA), NSW Parks and Wildlife Service and members of the Right Whale ID program have been tracking the pair as they migrate north. Mr Hatte continued to observe the calf for about five minutes after the incident and said it appeared to have escaped injury. "The calf seemed fine. It didn't show signs of stress," he said. "It went back beneath mum and was playing with seaweed again on the surface, so it looked totally unscathed." ORRCA spokesperson Pip Jacobs said the whales were seen breaching in Sydney Harbour yesterday. "Vessel strikes can be fatal … but we're pleased to confirm that mum and baby seem to be doing well," she said. The southern right whale is an endangered species. Between 250 and 300 individuals have been identified along the east coast, and larger populations along the West Coast. The baby's mother sustained an injury from a vessel strike near Merimbula in July. A southern right whale calf is believed to have died after being hit by a boat near Coffs Harbour earlier this year. Ms Jacobs said the whales were vulnerable to boat strikes because they entered very shallow water and lacked a dorsal fin. "These whales are particularly difficult to spot from the water, so they're often in the way of boats who don't know they're there," she said. Ms Jacobs said boat users should be aware that the whales are in their migration season through to the end of August. Boats must stay 100m from an adult and 300m from a calf. Drones must maintain a height of at least 100m. Ms Jacobs said the mother and baby looked as if they had recovered from their hardships. "This pair has faced extraordinary challenges on their journey so far, but they appear to be doing well, which is not only great news for them but their species as well," she said.


The Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Infested waters is only kept afloat by Helen George – erotic brush with stingray could help get her land huge TV deal
AT the risk of raining on ITV's latest celebrity parade, do you think this newspaper would've mentioned his death if Sir Lenny Henry had been eaten by a shark? I do. 9 It would've taken a heroic level of restraint not to do it under the headline 'Lenny Henry in pieces' as well. My point being, expectations should be well and truly managed before clicking on Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters where, in honour of Jaws' 50th anniversary, some reasonably famous people are forced to 'confront their fears' and 'step out of their comfort zones' while having to cope with the very real trauma of coming face-to-face with scuba diving instructors in the Bahamas. It's a hell of an ordeal for Lenny and the gang, as you can imagine. All but sunk Just in case the seven ever forget the point, though, they're joined by a trio of marine experts to ram home the environmental message and explain the celebs have 'nothing to fear from one of the most persecuted animals on the planet'. A fine sentiment that's only slightly undermined by the fact one of the team, Australian Navy para Paul de Gelder, has a prosthetic arm and leg, on account of the real ones being eaten by a bull shark in Sydney Harbour. As remote as the chances of this dismembering ever being repeated on Celebrity Infested Waters were, any possibility of it being a spectacle vanished with the line-up, which really should've been headed by an apex political predator like Boris or Alastair Campbell. Aside from getting the health and safety team drunk while you tampered with the shark cage, all you would then have needed to do was sign up some professional irritants, like Nish Kumar, Gemma Collins and the drumming Welsh weatherman, before filling the final crucial spot — for teeth-related reasons — with Rob Beckett. One of the sharks attempts to attack Rob Beckett? It's funny. One of the sharks attempts to mate with Rob Beckett? It's even funnier. Instead, the show was all but sunk when ITV went for worthy and likeable characters who include: Dougie Poynter, from McFly, Ross Noble, Ade Adepitan, actress Lucy Punch and Countdown's Rachel Riley. Lenny's there as well, obviously, still trying his best, bless him. Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters All hopes the other six ever had about hogging the camera, though, were dashed with the booking of Call The Midwife 's Helen George, who announced her arrival right at the start of episode one when team leader Dr Tristan Guttridge told them: 'You're meeting bull sharks today.' 'Sharks? Today? In the water?' No, back in the Coconut Lounge at the hotel. Where the hell do you think you're going to meet them? From that moment onwards, it effectively became The Helen George Show. An actress so traumatised by a childhood swimming pool incident, involving rubber floats, that she cannot put her head under water or even look at it without giving us her full Meryl Streep routine from Sophie's Choice. Mind you, it was a slightly different performance we got when a stingray nuzzled her crotch in the shallows off Bimini island. 'Oh my God, it's gone right for my vagina! 9 9 'Ooh! Sucky sucky,' she groaned, before admitting afterwards: 'I've never been tickled by a stingray before. It was quite pleasant.' If I had to guess, of course, I'd say what's really going on here is that Helen's using her rather lovely Bahaman holiday as an audition for ITV's jungle, as she keeps shouting ' Get me out! ' every time she's in the water. I'm vaguely glad she's there as well, because Celebrity Infested Waters would be an even flatter experience without her histrionics. What all the screaming in the world cannot do, though, is add any sort of point to Celebrity Infested Waters or take away from the stupidity of the exercise. Cupping goolies Because the really mind-blowing thing about this format is that ITV tried exactly the same thing in 2005, to mark the 30th anniversary of Jaws, with a one-off show called Celebrity Shark Bait, featuring Ruby Wax, Richard E Grant and Colin Jackson. And none of them had the decency to get eaten either. Now here we are, 20 years later, with a five-part series and Dougie Poynter from McFly cupping his goolies as he waded cautiously into the ocean asking: 'Are my testicles safe?' From the sharks? 100 per cent. From Helen? 50/50. LIGHTNING, Zoe Lyons: 'In which classic board game are the Hippopotamus Defence and Queen's Gambit opening moves?' Shui: 'Cluedo.' Zoe Lyons: 'A revolving pole with red and white stripes on it is often used to identify what place of business?' Rebecca: 'Fire station.' And Zoe Lyons: 'What type of raincoat is named after the Scottish chemist who invented the material it was first made from?' Craig: 'Anorak.' Aye, good old Charlie Anorak. One of the greats. RE: ITV's women's Euros 2025 pundit Eni Aluko: 'I struggle with questioning goalkeepers.' Then kindly p*** off. It's your job. BONO'S A LIVE 8 NO-NO 9 THE difference between the first two brilliant episodes of BBC2's Live Aid At 40 documentary and the soulless third was as stark as the chasm that existed between the original gig and the 2005 version. Because the first concert, in 1985, was a beautiful, spontaneous union between the British people and their favourite rock stars, driven by two men, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, who were just trying to make a difference while having some fun. The terminally pompous Live 8 event, on the other hand, was clearly driven by a politician who longed to be a rock star, Tony Blair, and a rock star who longed to be a politician, Bono, who shared a messiah complex that overwhelmed everyone and everything else. It missed someone capable of filling the impossible void left by Freddie Mercury as well, obviously. But the most notable absence, in part three, was the public, who just had to sit tight while Blair, Putin, George W Bush and Bono did some sort of behind-closed-doors deal about Third World debt, and remain polite while Live 8 cretins like Miss Dynamite told them: 'As a nation we've robbed, killed, stolen and violated the Third World for centuries. If there's a debt to be paid, we're the ones that owe.' A version of events which is a bit hard to stomach when Britain was the first country in the whole history of humanity not just to ban the international slave trade but police it as well. She certainly set the self-loathing tone for a lot of large concerts that followed, though, and probably helped ensure one of Live Aid's main legacies is the constant background drone of celebrity sermonizing we must all now endure. And as for Africa? Yeah, it's still screwed. RANDOM TV IRRITATIONS Good Morning Britain imbeciles captioning a famous 1980s toy as the: 'Rubix cube'. BBC1's normally superb Gabby Logan turning into a seven-year-old child with the observation: 'Two more sleeps until the Wales- England game.' And Wimbledon commentators getting a throb on for the tournament's celebrity flotsam. A practice which should've ended long before Andrew Castle debased himself with the words: 'A lovely royal box there. 'That was Nick Clegg, our former Deputy Prime Minister.' LOOKALIKE OF THE WEEK THIS week's winner is 'Human Barbie Doll' Alicia Amira, off ITV2's Price Of Perfection, and the Test Card clown. Sent in by Ewen Davidson, of Hoddesdon, Herts. WITH all of its sly talk about 'diversity,' 'climate change,' and 'migration,' BBC2's anthropological series Human was already giving me the uneasy feeling it was using the past to spread propaganda about the present. 9 Then host Ella Al-Shamahi, right, said: 'Six million years before Homo sapiens appeared, some primates left the trees, they started walking upright and began using stone tools. These tool-makers became . . .' Click. Bloody Keir Starmer. TV GOLD 9 CHANNEL 4 's reliably brilliant 24 Hours In Police Custody: Lost Boys. Sky Documentaries' over-long but incredibly touching Jayne Mansfield tribute My Mom Jayne. BBC2's Live Aid at 40 concert footage confirming Queen's show-stopping performance was every bit as mesmerising as the legend suggests. And Noel Edmonds going 'full Brent' on the final episode of ITV's Kiwi Adventure, where he invited the Prime Minister of New Zealand to dinner (he was 'busy'), speculated that he may have been a dolphin in a previous life and then assured his wife Liz, while sat in a hot tub, that she was 'one of the three most important things' in his life, ahead of 'helicopters and topiary'. You spoil that woman, Noel.


The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Humpback whale in Sydney Harbour treats commuters to a surprise
Watch the remarkable moment that a humpback whale is spotted in Sydney Harbour on Wednesday (16 July). Eyewitness footage taken onboard a passing ferry shows the mammal poking above the waters at Circular Quay – Sydney's central ferry terminal - before diving back down. The appearance of the whale resulted in ferries having to be temporarily paused during the morning commute on advice of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). Crews from the NPWS guarded the animal as it swam freely in the harbour until it left the area a few hours later, a NPWS spokesperson said.


The Guardian
5 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Humpback whale that swam to Circular Quay, delighting ferry passengers, has left Sydney Harbour
A young humpback whale who wandered from its usual migratory route right up to Sydney's Harbour Bridge has left the harbour. The sub-adult whale had left the harbour, with no sign of it on Thursday morning, a government source told Guardian Australia. The whale delighted onlookers and experts after it was first spotted swimming at Circular Quay on Wednesday morning before moving east on what experts tracking the mammal called its 'full harbour experience'. Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a whale expert on board a New South Wales Maritime boat on Wednesday, confirmed the whale was 'not in distress, quite the opposite'. It appeared to be inquisitive and relaxed, visiting various harbour-side locations, she said. The whale's appearance was a 'reminder that Sydney Harbour is very wild'. It was last seen at Rose Bay on Wednesday evening, Pirotta said on Thursday. The founder of citizen science project Wild Sydney Harbour, which works with organisations including the NSW government, said ordinary people who spotted the whale throughout the day helped experts know where it was. The process was 'citizen science at its very best'. There have been no sightings of the whale on Thursday to her knowledge, Pirotta said. Pirotta said while the whale may have left the harbour, she cautioned it could resurface. 'It was just all over the place [on Wednesday]. So just when you think that it's probably had enough, maybe it hasn't, and maybe it could pop up where we least expect it.' She encouraged anyone to report sightings to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Because it was sometimes conspicuous and sometimes inconspicuous, it wouldn't surprise me if it's still in the harbour, but surely by now, it must have done so much exploring,' Pirotta said. The Port Authority of NSW also had cameras monitoring the harbour and they were an 'incredibly important part of yesterday's mission,' the whale expert said on Thursday. Humpback whales usually travel the 'humpback highway' which runs up and down Australia's east coast. It is not unusual for them to briefly leave it, with four humpbacks having been seen in the harbour this migratory season. But Pirotta said this week's visitor was unusually explorative, coming as far as the harbour bridge.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Why bull sharks are staying in Sydney Harbour longer than ever
Bull sharks are spending more time than ever before in Sydney Harbour, and in the future, they might not leave. Video transcript Bull sharks are spending more time than ever before in Sydney Harbour, and in the future, they might not leave. A new study from James Cook University has revealed the sharks, which spend their winters in Queensland, are now lingering around Sydney for an average of 15 days longer during summer than they did in 2009. Dr. Nicholas said the change is driven by rising sea temperatures, with average water temperatures between October and May steadily increasing over the past 40 years. He warned that the changing migration patterns extend the potential for human shark encounters, and if warming continues, bull sharks may begin inhabiting Sydney waters year round.