A Department of Conservation photograph of a whale killed in 2009.

Waitemata Councillor Mike Lee says it is time for action as yet another critically endangered Bryde’s whale is laid to rest after a brutal death by ship strike.

Recently a 15-metre female Bryde’s whale was spotted floating near Waiheke by local boaties.

They contacted the Department of Conservation and rangers towed the whale to Calypso Bay on Motuihe Island where a necropsy was led by Massey University veterinary pathologist Stuart Hunter. He was assisted by veterinarians from the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine at Auckland Zoo.

 “The necropsy has shown that the whale was alive when it was struck by a vessel,” says DOC Auckland Area biodiversity manager Phil Brown.

The whale was then buried at Calypso Bay and blessed by Ngati Paoa representatives.

New Zealand is one of the few places in the world where there is a resident population of Bryde’s whales. They are centred in the Hauraki Gulf and literally live in the Auckland shipping lane.

The Department of Conservation estimates that there are fewer than 200 Bryde’s whales that frequent the gulf. However only 80 of them have been individually identified, according to Dr Rochelle Constantine.

She has been heading a research team at Auckland University which has been collecting data about the Bryde’s whales in the Hauraki Gulf.

She says: “Ship strike poses the greatest threat to Bryde’s whales in the busy Hauraki Gulf waters, where the whales live in and around the Auckland shipping channel.” 

According to her research, 42 Bryde’s whales have been found dead in the Hauraki Gulf region in the last 16 years. 

“This is a high mortality rate for a relatively small population of whales,” Dr Constantine says.

Her team have been using D-Tags which are suctioned onto the whales to collect data about the depth the whales swim at, the noises they hear (and make) and their DNA.

An intense four-month research program has just been completed and the data is due for publication later this week.

Mr Lee says the conclusion of Dr Constantine’s research is “timely”.

“The scientists have been working away quietly but it is time for action now. After two whale deaths in the last four months the problem is glaringly obvious.”

“The native population of resident whales in the Hauraki Gulf is so small, every time one is lost it has a  major impact on the whale family.”

Mr Lee has called for a meeting of all parties involved to review the research findings and take steps towards the future protection of the whales.

Manager of the Hauraki Gulf ForumTim Higham says a meeting will take place in early March.

“Dr Constantine will present her findings to all the stakeholders involved and we will work together to form an agreement about the whales future protection.”

It is expected that the Ports of Auckland, the Auckland Harbourmaster, the Department of Conservation, several Auckland Councillors and representatives from various shipping companies will attend the meeting.

“One of the things that could be done to protect these whales is to lower the speed of commercial ships passing through the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park,” Department of Conservation whale expert Phil Brown says.

“DOC, the Auckland Council and University of Auckland researchers have been discussing options to protect the whales over the last few years.”

“We hadn’t been making a lot of headway due to a lack of conclusive data about a range of issues, but over the last few months we think that we’ve now got the data we need to make it happen this year.” 

“Some of the big shipping companies have informally said that they would understand the need to slow down as they do it elsewhere, but we’ll need to take the next step to get it to actually happen.”

Mr Lee says: “It is time for the full weight of local authority to help the harbourmaster by creating bylaws that slow the ships down.” •