Catryn Jenkins BBC Wales News Online

The whale was washed up on mud flats near Newport

Sophia Exelby is the Receiver of Wreck and responsible for all "royal fish" stranded.

Rod Penrose is the marine stranding co-ordinator for Wales and has to carry out examinations of such creatures that are washed ashore.

Both have been involved since the 60ft mammal was washed up off St Brides near Newport.

Sophia Exelby, 32, holds the position of Receiver of Wreck and has the responsiblity of deciding what to do when a "royal fish" is stranded.

She explained that in times gone by, whale, porpoise or dolphin was once considered a lucrative haul for the oil and other products that could be salavaged from the carcass.

Sophia Exelby deals with salvage recovered from the sea

And it has been the royal prerogative since Edward II was on the throne for the monarch to have the rights to the creature.

"These days, it's more of a waste disposal problem," said Ms Exelby.

"My job is to co-ordinate the disposal of the carcass.

"We don't get whales all that often, maybe six or seven a year - but this one is a very large one," she said.

But apart from finding ways of removing the bodies of whales, dolphins and porpoises from the coastline around the UK, Ms Exelby is also responsible for dealing with reports of recovered salvage.

"Any wreck that is recovered has to be reported to the reciever of wreck so that I can contact the legal owner and ensure that the salvager gets rewarded," she expained.

"We deal with everything from modern ships losing their cargo to historically important wrecks like the Mary Rose."

And Ms Exelby, who works in the Martime and Coastguard Agency in Southampton, said that she was impressed with the variety of finds reported.

"We get things like medieval stone anchors to shell cases from the war," she said.

Rod Penrose carries out examinations of washed up mammals

"But one of the most interesting I've seen lately was a 19th Century blue and white porcelain toilet from a protected wreck off Lundy Island," she added.

Rod Penrose, who is based in Cardigan, west Wales, works as the marine mammals stranding co-ordinator for Wales.

He has the task of inspecting whale, porpoise and dolphins that get washed ashore in Wales.

"I have to go an identify the species and take samples from it," he said.

"And I also have to take the bodies to Liverpool University or London Zoo for post mortem examinations to find out the cause of death."

Mr Penrose, who has been doing the job for 10 years, said that by carrying out tests on the carcasses of the creatures stranded gave a good impression of the health of the sea mammal populations in the UK.

And the latest casualty of stranding has proved to be one of the biggest creatures Mr Penrose has seen.

"We have had fin whales before but nothing as big as the one in Newport," he said.