My Account
Winter means whales in New Zealand, as they embark on their great migrations from Antarctic regions to the tropics. In recent weeks we’ve had both Southern Right whales and Humpbacks, conspicuously seen close to shore off both east and west coasts, sometimes leaping (breaching), in groups and pairs, and sometimes surprisingly coming close to areas of urban development, such as in Tauranga Harbour.
During my recent winter visit to Kaikoura, in less than a day-and-a-half, we spotted 11 passing Humpbacks.
According to some, this stream of whales has never been reported before, except through the Cook Strait Whale Survey. The survey ran for 12 years and noted non-linear but significant increases in whales through time, and also detected Blue whales – the biggest animal ever on planet Earth, and the famous white humpback Migaloo, formerly claimed by Australia.
Even though the sight of returning whales is incredibly exciting, it sometimes has its downsides, especially for the whales. Excitement seems to overwhelm common sense as people can’t resist but get too close to the whales for the perfect selfie or story to tell. Even in Kaikoura, where fortunes are made from whales, my observation was that the tour boats intercepted and then interrupted the whales’ journeys north, putting the whales at risk for tourism dollars.
Elsewhere in the country, whenever sightings are reported, the public flock to the latest spot the whales are seen, sometimes almost running the whales over in the process. Indeed Orca calves, baby Hector’s dolphins and even adult whales are struck and killed by boats whose owners were more intent on a close encounter than the best interests of the whales dictates.
Unfortunately, whales and dolphins, like a lot of our conservation treasures, are threatened by public reaction and government apathy. The Cook Strait Whale Survey, for example, was previously run as a sponsored research programme between DoC and the private sector. It harnessed the skill of old whalers to spot the whales, and collated information over time, creating a body of knowledge about species trends as well as individual movements. When the sponsoring private sector company withdrew its support, DoC pulled the plug, and the programme did not go ahead this year.
Elsewhere, species already under pressure have their population status worsened by our desire for fish and fishing dollars, and lack of adequate enforcement and protection by agencies charged with this role, the Ministry of Primary Industries and DoC. New Zealand sea lions have less protection than in the past and this threatened species faces extinction within just decades.
New Zealanders attest to loving the ocean and some of our biggest organisations are non-governmental conservation groups. But there seems to be a disjuncture between our sentiments and our actions. We all have a role to play in stewardship if our love of nature is to be sustained.
