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.

Dozens of dolphins have died after a pod of more than 150 stranded on a remote beach in Australia's southern island of Tasmania, environment officials said Wednesday. A pod of 157 dolphins from a poorly understood deep-sea species was believed to have been stranded in the past 48 hours – with "approximately 90" still alive as of Wednesday morning.