Whale watching: Oceania experience highlights work to do

1:20 PM (36 minutes ago)

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Whale watching: Oceania experience highlights work to do

On her first day working with an internationally regarded whale biologist, Unitec biodiversity management student Abigail Robinson helped piece together the shattered skull of an infant beaked whale.

The animal was one of two found by locals washed up on the tiny island of Mangaia and their deaths were being investigated by Cook Islands-based whale biologist Nan Hauser. The young whales, which still had milk in their stomachs, were believed to have been killed by a foreign fishing vessel seen in the area that week. Evidence suggested they had been caught accidentally, brought aboard and subsequently despatched. One was shot and the other appeared to have been beaten.

It was a testing start for the young Aucklander but the way she handled that paved the way for an ongoing relationship with Hauser and her Centre for Cetacean Research and Conservation.

Hauser has been based in the Pacific for nearly 20 years, researching whales and raising awareness of their plight. Robinson has always been interested in science and marine life so a chance meeting with the “whale lady” on a flight to the islands in 2014 was too good an opportunity to pass up. After making an approach and offering to help she went on to spend what was meant to be a two week family holiday working as a research assistant.

Robinson has since returned several times to help with the research work the team does, which includes population monitoring, gathering DNA, observing whale behaviour, recording video and audio footage from both in the water and from drones, and satellite tagging.

She says while the experience has been amazing - and has allowed her to gain credits for her degree - some of what she has learned has been eye opening.

“Most of the research we do is focused on humpbacks,” she says. “They are still recovering from the illegal Soviet whaling era but the Oceania population we research are not recovering at the rate they should be compared to other populations, and they’re still threatened.”

Despite the Cook Islands 2.4 million km² ocean territory being declared a whale and shark sanctuary and marine park Robinson says there are still multiple possible reasons for the slow rejuvenation. The impact of commercial fishing is one of those.

“It is very hard to imagine the shooting and bludgeoning of the infant beaked whales was anything other than foreign fishermen, which are mostly big Taiwanese, Chinese or American fishing boats.

“We didn’t realise how common it was and then we interviewed an ex-long line fisherman and he told us a bit more. Basically they’re out in the open ocean and there’s no one to keep them in check.

“He told us pilot whales know the sound of long liner engines and associate it with food, so they will come up and start predating on the fish. So the fishermen shoot at them and they’d sometimes shoot up to nine before they’d get the picture and swim off. This is just one boat, how many are out there?”

One current focus of the Centre’s work is in developing a better understanding of the humpback whales’ migrations so that fishermen can avoid certain areas during the migratory season. Humpback whales migrate to Oceania after feeding in Antarctica over the summer. The researchers have found that most of the whales they have tagged head westward from Rarotonga to places like Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Fiji.

“The calves often get tangled in long lines in their migration, so the aim is to establish safe migration paths.

“It’s the whole science to policy thing. The idea is that we can get areas that during migration season they can’t put long lines down, rather than just expecting them to stop long lining completely during the migration season, which is not going to happen. It’s about meeting halfway a lot of the time.”

Drones add new tool for conservation work

Drones loaded with cameras are bringing a new element to the work of the researchers and Robinson has found herself the designated operator. DJI, a drone company from China, wanted to get behind the cause and are generous sponsors of Cook Islands Whale Research. They supplied the team with two Phantom 3’s during the 2015 season.

The drones let the team observe whales without getting in the water or even going near them, allowing for improved observation – plus the pictures captured are amazing.

“Interacting with the whales in the water is one of the best experiences, but as soon as you get in the water you are changing their behaviour. With the drones we can really see what they do when people aren’t around.”

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