The ear bones from two whales stranded in the Far North are being examined by an expert to see if seismic testing caused the marine mammal deaths.
At least four whales have stranded on Far North beaches in the past six weeks, raising concerns from hapu and environmentalists that sonar and seismic surveying for oil and gas off Northland's west coast could have contributed to the deaths.
Members of Ahipara Komiti Takutaimoana extracted the ear bones from a sperm whale that washed up on Ninety Mile Beach on August 13 and a baleen whale that was found at Tauroa (Reef Point) near Ahipara on August 21. A spokesman for the Te Rarawa group said seismic or multi-beam sonic mapping were being undertaken northwest and southwest of Ahipara at the time of the strandings.
The bones were sent to Professor Ewan Fordyce, from the geology department at Otago University, who was to examine them to see if there was any sign of seismic, sonar, or other human intervention that might have caused the deaths. Professor Fordyce said he could have answers by today.
He said it was possible to tell if human factors had impacted on the whales by checking the ear bones, with breaks or fractures tell-tale signs.