Whales And Dolphins In The Spotlight With Annual Countrywide Count This Weekend

Excitement is building for the fourth national citizen science Cetacean Census this weekend 24-25 June. Whale and dolphin spotters will be taking position at coastal highpoints around the country to contribute to the cetacean count. Despite a gloomy forecast, prospects are good because of the number of humpback whales and orca seen around New Zealand, this week in particular.

Cetacean Census organiser Christine Rose, says the event is held in mid-winter because it’s ‘peak whale’ with humpbacks traveling up the coast to the tropics, where they feed and breed. But Rose says it’s more than just a humpback headcount, as many other whales and dolphins are regularly seen from shore, including the Cetacean Spotting Facebook page’s most popular cetacean - orca.

People are invited to register a location - or just casually take part from land or sea, and record their sighting effort via the Cetacean Spotting Facebook page. Rose says because the ocean is a wild environment, there’s never a guarantee what will be seen. ‘It’s like a lottery - we never know where whales and dolphins will be seen - though this week there have been humpbacks sighted off Otago, Wellington and Kaikoura, and orca in the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Plenty, Wellington and the Hauraki Gulf’. ‘The more eyes on the sea, the better’, says Rose. Previous annual ‘dolphin demographies’ have recorded a range of cetaceans including curious juvenile humpbacks, beaked whales, southern right whales and Hector’s dolphins.

Rose says ‘I’ve seen a lot of whales and dolphins from land and kayak around New Zealand, so I know how rewarding it can be. The adrenaline of a sighting is addictive. The magnificence of the animals is inspiring. But you can also spend a lot of time looking and not see a thing, and still have a great time.

‘Whale and dolphin sightings networks over the internet facilitate wide knowledge of these ‘minds in the water’ with whom we share Planet Ocean’, says Rose. But despite the public appreciation for cetaceans, they are under significant threat. Overfishing, bycatch, pollution, boat strike, plastics and extractive industries like deep sea mining all threaten whales and dolphins in New Zealand waters. This Cetacean Census sealife survey shines a light on the ocean inhabitants and the positive side of human interactions with nature.

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