Many pilot whales dead after new stranding

Nearly 50 pilot whales are dead after stranding on Farewell Spit, on the northwestern tip of the South Island.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said the long-finned pilot whales were not thought to be from the pod of more than 100 pilot whales that stranded on Puponga Beach, near the base of Farewell Spit, 12 days ago.

The whales that stranded at Puponga were refloated the next day but an attempt to refloat the 49 whales that stranded further out on the spit yesterday was considered too dangerous.

DOC Golden Bay acting area manager Greg Napp said a DOC ranger spotted the stranded whales about 1.15pm yesterday. Eight of the animals died within a few hours of stranding.

The remaining 41 whales were then shot to end their suffering.

"Given the hopelessness of being able to successfully refloat the whales, our prime concern was then to avoid the whales suffering a long and painful death," Mr Napp said.

Refloating the whales was not considered feasible for safety reasons and because of the location, a shallow tidal area on the inside of Farewell Spit near its tip.

Any attempt to refloat the whales would have been dangerous for people involved and was likely to have been unsuccessful, Mr Napp said.

"The whales were 1km out from shore and spread over 6ha. Any refloat attempt would have meant having people more than 1km out to sea in chest high water and that is a safety concern. The sea was rough due to a strong westerly wind which made it even more unsafe."

Anyone who lost their footing would have been at risk of being swept out to sea.

Even if the whales had been refloated, the sea in the area was shallow for up to 6km and there was a high chance the whales would have stranded again in an outgoing tide before getting to deeper water, he said.

"It is upsetting that on this occasion we were not able to do more to save the whales. Sadly, a rescue attempt was just not safe or feasible under the circumstances. People's safety has to be our highest priority."

DOC had received reports of large numbers of pilot whales moving around the Golden Bay area on Friday.

People fishing from boats off Separation Point, in the Abel Tasman National Park, reported seeing an estimated 150-200 pilots whales about 9km out to sea around 10am. About 8.30pm, between 100 and 200 pilot whales were reported around 2km offshore from Puponga Beach.

- NZPA