Scientists 'excited' southern whale populations related

A discovery of new links between southern right whales from the subantarctic Auckland Islands and the mainland of New Zealand is very "exciting", Department of Conservation marine mammal national co-ordinator Steve Smith says.

Doc and its research partners have been researching southern right whales for years trying to discover if a link exists.

They have been taking DNA samples from southern right whales seen off the coast of New Zealand for the past six years and with this season's samples have up to 50, including nine taken from a group of about 20 whales at Te Waewae Bay in Southland last month.

The University of Auckland had been analysing the samples taken up to 2008 and found four genetic matches between the subantarctic islands and New Zealand mainland, he said.

"This finding suggests that the two regions are connected by migratory movement and maybe come from one historical New Zealand population, estimated to have numbered more than 28,000 whales before whaling."

The species was hunted to near extinction along the New Zealand coast from the beginning of the 19th century until they were protected in 1935.

The current population was estimated at less than 1% of its original size.

"Recent population estimates show . . . they are recovering about as fast as we can expect. However they still have a long way to go," Mr Smith said.

Recently a research expedition to the Auckland Islands was able to get 242 samples to add to the database and, given the greater numbers, should provide a higher chance of finding more links, he said.

The expedition was part of a four-year Australian-New Zealand Southern Ocean Research Partnership run by the University of Auckland and the Australian Antarctic Division, with support from Doc, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute.

The work involved researchers taking photographs for comparison with identification catalogues, retrieving tissue samples for genetic analysis and collecting other vital information about the whales.

It would take three to four months to analyse the results from the expedition and, in conjunction with the mainland New Zealand project, results should give a better understanding of the relationship between the whales seen around the mainland and those from the subantarctic, he said.

Any southern right whale sightings should be reported immediately on 0800 36 24 68.