The cost behind beached whales revealed: Department of Conservation spends $270,000 in 18 months

A sperm whale died after stranding on Christchurch's South New Brighton Beach in November. Photo / Andy Fussell, Project Jonah

• The Department of Conservation spent $271,491 on 59 stranding events since January 2023.
• Kaitāia district faced the highest costs, despite Northland’s total of 39 beached animals.
• Meirene Hardy-Birch highlighted the varying costs, heavily influenced by location and number of animals.

The Department of Conservation has spent more than $270,000 removing and burying beached mammals since the beginning of 2023, according to freshly-released information.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show the agency spent $271,491 on an estimated 59 events, involving 63 animals.

It includes the number of whales and dolphins found in the 35 DoC districts with a coastline, dead or alive.

Since the start of last year, there have been a total of 151 stranding events across the country, involving 527 animals.

Of these, 27 were able to be successfully refloated.

The Kaitaia district had the largest costs involved in the time period, despite only 39 animals being beached in all of Northland.

Operations manager Meirene Hardy-Birch said it’s because the costs are specific to each incident.

“Not all operations will be the same when it comes to the cost of either, disposing of dead animals or trying to deal with a mass whale or dolphin stranding, and trying to actually refloat animals,” Hardy-Birch told the Herald.

She said it is heavily dependent on the location, the number of animals, if they’re alive - and if there are people close by.

“We’ve had a scenario where it’s been a little dolphin and it only costs the time of a couple of my staff and their blood, sweat and tears to dispose of it in the dunes,” Hardy-Birch said.

New Zealand is a hotspot for strandings, with more than 5000 recorded since 1840.

DoC responds to around 85 strandings each year - typically involving one animal.

They say mass strandings occasionally occur, with the majority of these long-finned pilot whales.

A blue whale carcass waits to be buried in Nelson earlier this year. Photo / DoC

DoC was unable to provide the costs associated with whale and dolphin burials over the last 10 years - but estimated the minimum total for 2013-2022 was $293,450.

Hardy-Birch believes the rising costs of heavy machinery, like diggers, is a contributing factor to the larger total seen since last year.

“There’s always a cost,” she told the Herald.

“Physically, financially, and in some instances, some people get very attached to these beautiful animals emotionally.”

The money spent since last year included the removal of at least nine sperm or baleen whales.

DoC said some were in very public spaces - such as the 15-metre long sperm whale which died after becoming stranded on Christchurch’s South New Brighton Beach last November.

Three sperm whales also died in October, after beaching on Northland’s Ninety Mile Beach.

Some of the other large whales found had difficult accessibility, which DoC said accounted for a large proportion of expenditure.

Hardy-Birch said beachcast mammals commonly required more costs for their disposal, due to the risks associated with decaying carcasses.

“It’s actually a public health issue as well,” she said.

“We have to take into account [that] as a whale decomposes, gas builds up, and it creates quite a risk of explosive ruptures.

“And also, the spread of decomposing tissue can pose a health hazard, not just for humans, but depending on which location you’re in.”

She said there’s the possibility it could affect marine farms that are generating products for sale - like oyster farms.

“So if you have dead marine mammals on the beach, and leave them for nature to take its course, and it washes it out - then actually that oyster farm is going to be exposed to high levels of nutrients coming from that animal,” Hardy-Birch said.

“And so nine times out of 10 that’s why the department spends a lot of energy and time, disposing of these animals appropriately.”

People can report whale or dolphin strandings to the DoC emergency hotline 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468).

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on wellbeing, social issues and general news. Jaime joined Newstalk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star. She has a Bachelor of Communications degree from the University of Canterbury.