Right whales sighted as researchers head south

Polaris II comes into Careys Bay yesterday before its departure today for the Auckland Islands....
Polaris II comes into Careys Bay yesterday before its departure today for the Auckland Islands. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Southern right whale researchers are heading to the Auckland Islands today for the final year of a study into the subantarctic population.

Also on board the University of Otago's Polaris II are scientists researching sea lion and yellow-eyed penguin populations on the islands.

Postdoctoral fellow Dr Will Rayment said it was the last trip in a three-year study of the whales, which were hunted to near extinction in New Zealand waters.

The whales were seen off the coast of Otago and Southland each year, including a whale off Brighton and two sightings off the Karitane coast on Saturday.

Late last week, a whale and its young calf were seen at Colac Bay, a "special" sighting, he said.

A "handful" of calves were born in New Zealand waters as the whales came in-shore during winter to calve but were not often seen by the public at such a young age, he said.

It was hoped the research in the Auckland Islands would help scientists' understanding of the whales' movements, calls and habitat.

They would be photographing the whales to build up a database of individual whales, to get a picture of their movements and survival rates.

The crew would be based at Port Ross, on the islands 460km south of mainland New Zealand, for about three weeks.

They would also retrieve a time-lapse camera which had been taking taking photos in Port Ross every hour and an autonomous acoustic recorder which had been "listening to the whales" while the researchers were absent, he said.

Funding for the research would end this year, but he would be looking to find new support to continue the work.

"We have the opportunity to build up a long-term study here."

Department of Conservation marine ranger Jim Fyfe said the whales were often seen off the Otago coast from June to September, peaking in July-August, as they came inshore.

He urged anyone who saw a whale to report the sighting and, if they were close enough, to photograph the callosities on the whale's head, to help build up the identification database.

rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz

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