Spot an orca, win a GoPro camera

Rosina Liska snapped this image of Whangarei orca expert Dr Ingrid Visser using a GoPro camera to record these orca playing. Photo / Rosina Liska

Budding Northland whale watchers can do their bit for orca conservation and get a flash new piece of technology too.

Whangarei-based orca expert Dr Ingrid Visser has teamed up with GoPro Media Productions to document the New Zealand orca in unique ways.

Dr Visser has been using a tiny, high definition GoPro camera to film orca around the Northland coast this year and she's been amazed at the results.

"They are great. you can put them on the end of a long stick and get some really unique shots of the orca and they just give me a totally new perspective to filming them," she said.

"There are so many things you can do with them. It allows us to get closer without being intrusive and record their behaviour better. We can keep an eye on their markings to see if they have changed and basically it's an extra set of eyes out there on the water for us."

Dr Visser said the GoPro Media Team has been focused over the last year in creating educational and inspirational content to help create awareness about conservation of endangered species on the planet. In the past year, GoPro's Conservation Team has collaborated with Kevin Richardson in Africa on lions, Peter Pratje in Sumatra on orangutans, Kerri Walter in Africa on Cape griffons, as well as John Calambokidis and Louie Psihoyos, director of The Cove, on his new feature film 6.

Dr Visser said they need help from the public, and that's where the chance to win a new GoPro camera comes in. "If you spot any orca please call 0800 SEEORCA. GoPro is offering a Hero3+ Black Edition to the first caller who phones in an orca sighting, which the team then successfully films," she said.