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Auckland's own local whale variety - the little known Bryde's whale - is making a comeback to the Hauraki Gulf.
The Bryde's whale, which is a member of the same group as the humpback and blue whales, is being seen more frequently in the waters around Auckland.
Bryde's are some of the least-studied whales in the world. However, a new study has shown there are many living in the oceans around the north of the North Island, and particularly in the Hauraki Gulf.
British researcher Nicky Wiseman has spent the past four years studying Bryde's whales for her PhD thesis at Auckland University.
After travelling out with Auckland's Dolphin and Whale Safari almost every day for the first year, and several times a week for the past two years, she has identified 67 adult whales in the gulf, but says there are more she has not been able to identify.
Wiseman has become "quite fond" of her large subjects.
She has a photo identification system, cataloguing the whales according to their unique dorsal fins, and has even named some. One is called Tin Tin, and another, whose fin has a tear in it, she calls Ripper.
There have been more frequent sightings of the whales since Wiseman started her research in the Hauraki Gulf in 2003. She says this is probably a combination of rising whale numbers and the team becoming better at finding them.
William Goodfellow, managing director of Explore NZ which runs the dolphin and whale safaris and which partially funded Wiseman's research, says they have been seeing more whales.
"One of the biggest battles is convincing locals the whales are there. There is a misconception in Auckland that you have to go to Kaikoura to see whales, but we see them just as often here."
The whales were once hunted from the Great Barrier Island whaling station, but only when other species had disappeared from the area. The station closed in 1962 when the animals ran out.
The Bryde's whale is still targeted by Japanese whalers for their scientific research programme.
Associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, Scott Baker - who was Wiseman's academic superviser - says the research she has carried out "is beginning to shed light on the feeding behaviour, diet, social organisation and reproduction of this poorly known species".
He points out the whales are vulnerable to being struck by ships or entangled in nets.
Wiseman says the busy nature of the gulf means that Bryde's whales face threats, particularly as many fishermen don't realise they are there.
Bryde's whale
* Pronounced broo-das, the Bryde's whale was named after Johan Bryde, who set up the whaling station in South Africa where they were first noted and described.
* Bryde's whales can grow up to 15m, and weigh up to 20 tonnes.
* They can be seen in the Hauraki Gulf in spring, summer and often in winter and autumn.
* They live in the oceans between 40 degrees north or south, and do not perform long migrations, unlike other baleen whales.
* They are similar to Sei whales, but can be identified by three prominent longitudinal ridges on the rostrum - the head behind the blowhole - which are evident when the whale surfaces.
* They feed on schools of sardines, anchovies, herring or mackerel. They travel as solitary animals, or in small groups of two or three.
* They are listed with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as "data deficient".
