DOC takes rare whale sample

Department of Conservation staff in Golden Bay got close enough to a southern right whale to take a skin sample from the rare species.

Ranger Simon Walls said the whale was seen about 1km offshore at Parapara, between Collingwood and Takaka, on Friday afternoon. It was accompanied by a young calf and DOC staff managed to obtain the biopsy from the adult using a dart rifle.

Mr Walls said it was the second southern right whale sighted in Golden Bay this winter. A pod of right whales had also been spotted offshore from the West Coast, but it was unknown if it was the same group.

He said DOC would use the biopsy for genetic tests to help determine which population the whales belonged to. They were trying to identify whether the whales being sighted off the mainland of New Zealand are geographically isolated from those that breed further south.

No movements between these areas have been documented, indicating that the mainland whales could represent a separate population.

Southern right whales were once thought to number about 16,000 in New Zealand waters, including the sub-Antarctic.

They were forced to the edge of extinction by whalers in the 1860s and now the exact number of whales left was unknown, but it was thought there were about 30 in New Zealand waters, he said.

Right whales are black and have white growths called callosites on their heads. They lack a dorsal fin and are often seen inshore from June to September.

- nzpa