The federal senator for Tasmania recalls with horror arriving in Perth ahead of a parliamentary inquiry he was chairing into balancing human safety with marine conservation.
While in the air, he'd had 20 missed calls.
A teenage girl had been killed by a white shark in Western Australia.
Despite a media frenzy and pressure from the premier to cancel hearings, he argued a level-headed conversation was more important than ever.
He was ultimately proud of the inquiry's evidence-based, respectful tone but it wasn't without pain for the keen surfer with ocean-loving kids of a similar age to the girl who had lost her life.
"It was pretty brutal on a personal level," the senator told AAP.
He laments that shark nets - which the inquiry found kill marine life and fail to protect swimmers - are still in use in NSW and Queensland.
He wanted a ban enforced before exiting his parliamentary seat in August, with environmental lawyer Vanessa Bleyer set to replace him for the progressive minor party.
Senator Whish-Wilson took the seat when renowned environmentalist Bob Brown retired from parliament in 2012.
His vocal opposition that year to the contentious Gunns Tamar Valley pulp mill in Northern Tasmania put him on the political map.
At the time, he was the co-owner of a local vineyard but quickly became a public face of opposition to the project.
This, despite his varied background in defence, investment banking and economics academia, made for a curious pedigree in a Greens politician.
Senator Wish-Wilson's involvement in the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains his proudest achievement.
He says only he and fellow Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie were willing to meet with the father of the controversial figure back in 2018.
It took five years, a trip to Washington and cross-party support in establishing the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group, but it was all eventually worth it, with Assange freed in 2024.
"That really taught me that collaborative politics is really powerful," he said.
Along the way, he has also been a prominent advocate for disability services, Vision Australia and the broader blind and low-vision community.
He campaigned for full funding of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and preservation of foundational supports for Australians with disabilities.
Senator Whish-Wilson's ocean advocacy has landed him a number of smaller wins too.
They include helping halt offshore oil and gas projects, establishing container deposit schemes and chasing super trawlers out of Australian waters.
There's also been disappointment.
The threat posed to the endangered Maugean skate by the Tasmanian salmon industry fuelled a memorable moment when he blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a parliament house media interview.
The ocean's vulnerability to climate change worries him most.
Chairing an inquiry about misinformation and disinformation opened his eyes to the "deceitful, organised, well-funded campaigns undermining climate science and climate policy".
"Unfortunately, they've worked," he said.
"Nearly a third of Australians don't believe climate change is caused by human behaviour."
The departing senator's deepened understanding of the polluted online environment informed a recent expletive-laden warning that a co-ordinated bot campaign could be driving support for populist right-wing party One Nation.
As he takes a break to consider his next move, likely in marine conservation, he urged other parliamentarians to pick up the mantle on climate disinformation. Â
"It's time for someone else to take it to the next level," he said.
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