A southern right\u00a0whale\/tohor\u0101 is reportedly entangled\u00a0with a large pink buoy which is impairing its ability to move freely.<\/p>\n
The Department of Conservation is asking people to keep a lookout for the whale which was spotted\u00a0about five nautical miles off Pukekura\/Taiaroa Head yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Doc staff and mana whenua searched the area thoroughly by boat yesterday but couldn\u2019t find the whale or the pink buoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe report we had was of a large southern right whale, although we don\u2019t have photos so haven\u2019t been able to confirm this,” Doc operations manager Gabe Davies said<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whale was reported to be entangled with the pink buoy and appeared to be swimming around it with impaired ability to move freely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team did a thorough grid search yesterday but couldn\u2019t locate the whale or the buoy. We don\u2019t know whether the whale has got itself free or remains entangled.”<\/p>\n
Anybody who sees the whale is urged to report the sighting to the 0800 DOC HOT line (0800 362 468).<\/p>\n
\u201cSouthern right whales don’t have a typical north to south migration like humpback whales, so we don’t know which direction it might be headed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re appealing to the public to report any sightings of either the whale or the buoy.<\/p>\n
“We need details of location, ideally GPS coordinates, and direction headed, time of sighting and photos, if possible,\u201d says Gabe Davies.<\/p>\n
The DOC and mana whenua team had hoped to place a satellite tag on the entangled gear to allow the whale to be tracked while preparing a disentanglement plan.<\/p>\n
Disentangling marine mammals is highly specialised and dangerous work and members of the public should never attempt to disentangle a whale or interact with it.<\/p>\n
A southern right whale was successfully disentangled from a blue cod pot line off Stewart Island earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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