Department liaison officer Brendon Clark said the stranding was the first by false killer whales in Tasmania in since 1974. That was a pod of more than 160 whales that landed on a beach near Stanley on the northwest coast. Strandings in Tasmania are usually pilot whales.

Marine experts have given up hope of rescuing 157 false killer whales that stranded on a remote Australian beach.

More than 150 false killer whales have washed up on the coast of the Australian island state of Tasmania, with none of them expected to survive, officials said.