Crew spout with joy at rare whale sighting in Hauraki Gulf

Thursday, 31 May 2018

Pygmy blue whale a rare sight in Hauraki Gulf

Passengers aboard a boat in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf were treated to a rare sighting of a little-understood whale on a clear blue day earlier this week.

On Tuesday morning, 40 eager voyagers struck wildlife gold when a pygmy blue whale surfaced next to their tour boat.

Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari marine research officer Catherine Lea said the boat was abuzz after those on board realised it was only the third time in seven years the almost-daily operation had seen this particular subspecies.

'During the trip we do a commentary over the PA so we were stressing to passengers 'this is really rare,'' Lea said.

Pygmy blue whales are a rare sight for Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari, but this week they struck gold.

* Blue whale research expedition set to sail off lower North Island

* Scientists capture rare footage of blue whales feeding off coast of New Zealand**

The pygmy blue whale puts on a show. Recent research estimates there just over 700 of the subspecies living in New Zealand waters.

'People definitely gauged a lot from the crew's reaction.'

Although sightings of the pygmy blue were very unusual in the Hauraki area, the status of the subspecies' population was still a matter of debate.

'Regular' blue whales were considered endangered but the jury was still out on whether pygmy blue whales were also endangered - the result of significant data gaps, as described by The International Whaling Commission.

But research released this month by Leigh Torres and Dawn Barlow of Oregon State University provided further insight into the lives of these mystical ocean-dwellers.

The research, published in Endangered Species journal, estimated 718 pygmy blue whales currently call New Zealand home.

Torres and Barlow described the pygmy blue as 'genetically distinct' from other blue whales and suggested they live 'year-round' in our waters

'There is not enough data to fully understand this subspecies which stresses the importance of this research in finding out about them,' Lea said.

'This is an exciting time for blue whales in New Zealand.'

The Southern Hemisphere is currently home to three subspecies of blue whale: Antarctic, Chilean and pygmy.

Despite its name, the pygmy whale is still large in size, normally measuring 20 - 24 metres and weighing 154,000 kilograms.