|
|
Whale Strandings in Ohope and the Eastern Bay of Plenty
Extended notes contributed by Rosemary Tully.
Photos by Rosemary Tully, Sheryl Gibney, Andrew Gorrie
From time to time marine mammals strand. An
early morning walker may find a whale or other marine mammal on the beach.
If you have a dog with you make sure the dog is put on its lead so it
is unable to reach/bark/or harass the mammal.
Contact the Department of Conservation office and inform them of the exact
position in relation to road (ie. Opposite 300 Ocean Road) or landmark
(surf club Ohope).
If you think the mammal is still alive please state this, but do not prod
or get too near the mammal.
The following numbers may be of use in a stranding: -
Department of Conservation Whakatane main contact number is (07) 308-7213
this will give you information on contact numbers at the Whakatane office.
If it is afterhours or weekends the emergency pager number is - (026)
109 066. Resources
of interest can be accesssed on the website of Project Jonah which is
linked at the bottom of our feature on local Whale strandings.
Gray's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon grayi) also called Scamperdown
Whale
 Records
show this whale to have stranded from West End Ohope to Ocean Road Beach.
In all cases these were dead on being found.
They belong to the family Ziphidae; they grow to a length of nearly
6 metres, and have teeth (some teeth do not erupt). Their
diet consists of squid and octopus.
It is not known the numbers of Gray's beaked whales, as they are not often
seen. They have
many scars on their grey body and may also have circular plugs of flesh
taken out. This
is the work of the cookie cutter shark; it latches onto the whale with
its teeth and takes a piece of the skin and blubber.
To the left is a photograph of a gray's beaked whale found at Ohope.
Although this beaked whale is dead, there has been one successful refloating
of a Gray's beaked whale.
On the ocean beach by the Ohiwa Holiday Park, with the assistance of holidaymakers
the Department of Conservation staff and their volunteers the whale was
refloated and headed out to sea.
It did take some hours, first covering the whale with sheets, and providing
shade with an open type shade tent.
Keeping the mammal wet and then placing the Project Jonah pontoon under
the whale, when the tide was nearly full.
It was amazing the feeling of happiness everyone felt on being able to
return this whale to its environment.
Southern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon planifrons)
This was a very sad stranding, two whales the mother and calf were found
in Ohiwa Harbour.
The mother was found on the harbour side of Ohopespit and the calf just
washed up by the Ohope Spit channel as you come into the harbour.
The calf still had the birth rings showing on its skin, so was very young
indeed.
The numbers and status of these whales is unknown, they feed on squid,
fish etc and can grow to 7.5 metres long.
The colours range from pale yellow, brown, grey/blue to nearly black.
They have a very
bulbous forehead.
The body can carry many scars.
The photograph to the right shows the calf.
Because these whales do not strand that often, the Collections Manager
of Marine Mammals at Wellington Museum (Te Papa) was very keen to have
data from both the mother and calf.
The photograph below by Sheryl Gibney shows the curator Anton Van Helden
and his helpers getting ready to take samples etc.
 Anton
is in the yellow trousers and blue top.
It was very sad to see both mother and calf dead.
Some years before this (1979) an adult southern bottlenose whale stranded
and was found dead at Ohope.
Strap-toothed Whale (Mesoplodon layardii)
A strap-tooth whale stranded at Otarawairere Bay in May 1999.
It was very smashed up and only identified by Anton Van Helden after seeing
photos of the body.
He could tell by the colouration what type of whale it was.The
strap-toothed whale belongs to the Ziphidae family and grows to
a length of 6+ metres.
It feeds on squid and octopus, the status is unknown as is the population.
It colouration is patchy white/black.
The males have two bottom teeth that are like tusks overlapping on top
of the beak.
Pygmy Sperm Whale (Kogia breviceps)
 The
pygmy sperm whale has been found stranded on a number of occasions in
the Bay of Plenty.
West End Ohope had one found dead on the beach a few years ago. They
are a small whale reaching a length of 3.4 metres, they belong to the
family Koghdae, food taken is fish, squid krill etc.
The status is unknown, as is the population. This whale also has the holes
made by the cookie cutter shark.
The photograph to the right shows the pygmy sperm whale still in the tide.
This whale was found near the airport.
 The
photograph to the left is from the West End stranding of a pygmy sperm
whale in March 1995, showing the results of a cookie cutter shark biting
the whale.
There is also the dwarf sperm whale Kogia simus in the Koghdae
family. It is sometimes
hard to tell the difference of these two whales but the pygmy sperm whale
is slightly larger.
The sperm whale physter macroephalus is in the Physeteridae
family. These whales
also strand. The
last one stranding at Coastlands beach January 1999.
They can grow to 18 metres and cannot be saved if stranding alive, as
they are too heavy to move. The
photograph to the right shows the sperm whale found at Coastlands Beach.
 Ohiwa
Harbour has had two other strandings of note.
In 1990 a young orca stranded and was successfully refloated by Department
of Conservation staff.
In 1998 a minke whale was found in the harbour at low tide unable to move.
This was refloated but it restranded and due to the damage the sun had
done to the skin the animal was put down.
You can see in the photo the skin peeling off the face of the minke whale.
Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)
This whale is often seen out at sea and is still-hunted by some countries.
Its status is common with a population of up to a million animals.
It is in the family of Balaenopteridae and is called a rorqual
whale (baleen whale), having baleen (comb like plates) to strain the seawater
out from the food.
It is the smallest of the rorqual group of whales reaching a length
of up to 10metres. Its
food is krill and fish, The whale is black or dark grey with a lighter
underbelly whitish to grey - light brown with a dorsal fin well back on
the whale curving backwards.
It will sometimes come into harbours (as seen above) and if the tide is
on the way out this is when it may strand.
Striped Dolphin (Sternella coeruleoatha)
A striped dolphin was found near West End Ohope 1999, it was found alive
and put back to sea by some people on the beach.
It later washed up at West End Ohope dead.
Although the striped dolphin is common it is not often seen.
Growing to 2.5 metres it is found in the tropical and subtropical seas.
The photograph to the right shows the stripe along the length of its body.
If you are interested in learning more about helping marine
mammals during a stranding please contact Project Jonah, they may be able
to tell you when there is a marine medic course being held near you.
Visit their website for details... 
© Ohope Beach.info 2003
|
|
