Whale carcass leachate plumes in beach groundwater: A potential shark attractant to the surf?

With the recovery of whale populations, carcass strandings on beaches are growing. Beach burial is a common management option for stranded carcasses. However, communities fear shark attraction following leachate transport to the ocean via submarine groundwater discharge. Here, a sediment column mesocosm experiment indicated that carcasses can be a localised source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), phosphate and ammonium to groundwater. The spatial reach of the leachate plume was 25 m onshore. Therefore, carcass leachate plumes would only potentially attract sharks to the surf under specific conditions not experienced during our experiments. •The decomposition of whale flesh was monitored in laboratory and field experiments.•Decomposition leachate was mapped using nutrients and organic carbon as tracers.•Experiments indicated the spatial reach of leachate was