Hope still exists after day of toil

Rescuers formed a human chain at high tide to turn around any whales heading back to shore.

With daylight fading, rescuers at Farewell Spit faced an anxious wait to see whether the 80 to 90 whales stranded there survived last night.

Experts and hundreds of volunteers spent Friday fighting to keep surviving whales alive after about 420 of them beached themselves at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay.

It is New Zealand’s third-worst whale stranding.

Department of Conservation (DOC) Golden Bay operations manager Andrew Lamason said more than 100 whales had been refloated around high tide yesterday morning.

The refloat was partially successful with about 50 whales out swimming in the bay, but the remaining 80 whales re-stranded on the beach.

Lamason said volunteers kept the beached whales comfortable until dark. The situation would be reassessed early this morning, with another attempt at refloating any remaining stranded whales at high tide around lunchtime today.

Lamason said latest reports were that an estimated 70 per cent of the whales had died overnight yesterday. While rescuers managed to refloat the survivors for high tide at 10.30am, the whales began re-stranding before noon.

Some volunteers were at the mass stranding all day, and the base of the spit is strewn with hundreds of whale carcasses.

Many of the whales were upright and trying to swim and thrashing around. That was a good sign, but as the tide went out volunteers needed to try to keep the whales upright rather than on their sides.

The next high tide was about 11.30pm last night.

About 300 whales have died, however witnesses report about 120 were still alive.

The atmosphere at the stranding had been described as sombre, but also peaceful and collaborative.

The overcast cool conditions was one factor in the whales’ favour as their delicate skin can blister in the baking sun.

Peter and Ana Wiles were among the first volunteers to arrive at the spit yesterday. All around them were the bodies of whales, and the soft whistling of a few survivors.

As the waves pushed the bodies of whales against the beach, the couple said there was the occasional cheer whenever volunteers refloated a survivor.

DOC staff, Project Jonah volunteers and members of the public formed a human chain at high tide and helped to turn around any of the whales that were heading back to shore.

They were warned the whales could become aggressive and to keep clear of their mouths and tails.

‘‘There was no aggression from them, I think they fully understand we were trying to help,’’ Ana Wiles said.

An army of about 400 volunteers worked on rotation yesterday afternoon, keeping the surviving 120 whales upright and wet until the tide came back in.

Project Jonah said there were many reasons for whales to strand.

If they were old, or sick, a whale might struggle to keep up with the pod. Underwater explosions caused by sonar, seismic testing or underwater sea quakes could also have an impact on them.

When chasing prey, such as squid, it was possible for whales to accidentally beach themselves.

The strong social bonding of whales meant if a few became stranded, they may draw in the rest of the pod.

DOC marine species and threats manager Ian Angus said DOC, local council and iwi would work together to deal with the whale carcases.

A few whales would go to Massey University, where experts would try to shed light on why they stranded. The remaining carcasses would most likely be buried or left to be washed out to sea and decompose. – Fairfax NZ