Humpback whale stranded in Blueskin Bay

An adult humpback whale has stranded on a sandbar near Waitati.

Conservation groups and about 30 local residents are watching on as the whale attempts to free itself from a sandbar, a few hundred metres off Doctors Pt in Blueskin Bay, this afternoon. 

Marine scientist and Doctors Pt resident Tom Brough, of Earth Sciences New Zealand, said he had seen the humpback swimming along the coast in the morning. 

‘‘It sort of just got in a little close to the bar here and it ended up getting stranded at about, probably about 10.30 [am],’’ he told the Otago Daily Times this afternoon.

‘‘It's getting washed slowly inwards into the bay. ’’

The Department of Conservation (Doc), Project Jonah and Surf Lifesaving had mobilised and were monitoring the situation, he said.

But it was too risky to send people into the water to try and help the whale, which was mostly submerged. 

‘‘We've just been waiting for the tide, but for a big whale like this there's not really a lot you can do,’’ Dr Brough said.

‘‘It's actually a bit risky to have people in the water, especially because it's not shallow.’’

He estimated the whale was 15 metres long and could see damage to its skin, which he said was common when animals had been rolling on sand.

‘‘It's high tide right now, so if it doesn't get off that bar pretty soon, then it's going to end up pretty high and dry where it is,’’ Dr Brough said.

‘‘In six hours is when it's low tide again, it probably won't be a very good outcome for it, if it's in the same place."

It was a challenging situation and sometimes emotional for people, he said.

‘‘It's always pretty sad to see an animal like this, that should be out there in the ocean doing its thing, ending up on a beach. But it's one of those things, you know, nature can be pretty cruel sometimes."

Dr Brough said at this time of year, humpback whales were migrating south and while strandings were "not common", the coast off Warrington was somewhat of a hotspot for beached whales.

"The population of humpback whales are starting to rebound a lot, so they're becoming a lot more common - which is just great, it's a good thing. 

"But it does mean that every so often we get situations like this that are obviously quite sad, where you get a whale in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Humpbacks migrated alone or in mother-calf pairs; Dr Brough believed this whale had been travelling alone.

"If there was a calf we would have seen it."

An ODT photographer at the scene said people were watching the whale from three headlands around the bay.

Doc operations manager Gabe Davies said it was alerted about the stranded whale this morning.

‘‘Staff are on site and are working closely with Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki, Project Jonah and Surf Life Saving New Zealand.’’

‘‘We will provide an update once we know more.’’

ruby.shaw@odt.co.nz