Humpbacks put on amazing show
A whale-sized splash in the distance signalled the start of a spectacular encounter for two fishermen.
Dan Govier was on a two-day fishing trip with a friend last week, and the pair were heading back to Port Hardy, on the northwest of d’Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds, when Govier noticed a ‘‘huge big splash’’ in the distance.
It was late in the day, and the light was fading – but as the boat got closer, the men realised they were travelling with a pod of humpback whales.
‘‘They just were tracking along, quite often breaching out of the water beside us,’’ Govier said.
He thought there were at least three or four of the whales, who were ‘‘popping up all over the show’’, but the low light made it hard to get a good count.
‘‘It was pretty exciting seeing such an amazing animal up close, and we got quite a bit of video footage of them swimming alongside us.’’
In one of the breaches he caught on film, the whale is almost completely clear of the water.
‘‘It shows you the power in them, to be able to get something of that size out of the water.
‘‘It was a great finish to the day seeing them up close. It was really amazing.’’
The whales were heading north through Stephens Passage, the body of water between Stephens and d’Urville islands in the outer Sounds.
Govier said it was the time of year when humpback whales migrated north.
‘‘They have been down in Antarctica feeding for our summer months, and now they are heading up to the tropical waters.’’
He knew the animals came up the east coast of the South Island on their way to the tropics. ‘‘I always thought they go through the middle of the Cook Strait, but obviously some do take more of a coastal route.’’
It was the first time Govier had seen humpback whales breach up close. He said he had seen them swimming off Kaiko¯ura, and while in Niue. He had fished around d’Urville Island and Stephens Passage for years, but had never seen humpback whales there before.
Govier reported the sighting to the Department of Conservation through its online marine mammal sighting form.
While there are thought to be a number of reasons why whales breach, Australian scientists who studied the surface behaviours of humpback whales migrating to Antarctica in 2017 found that it was more common among pods that were at least four kilometres apart, suggesting it plays a role in longdistance communication.
According to DOC, humpbacks are frequent visitors to the coastal waters of New Zealand during seasonal long-distance migrations of around 10,000km a year, between summer feeding grounds in Antarctica and winter calving and breeding grounds in tropical or near-tropical waters.
They travel mainly along the east coast of the South Island and through Cook Strait during winter, and return along the west coast during spring.
Humpbacks are known for their spectacular breaching and their beautiful, complex songs.
Newborns measure between four and five metres, while adults can grow up to 15m.
DOC has run whale surveys in Cook Strait annually since 2004 to determine the status and level of the recovery of humpbacks in New Zealand waters.
Visitors travelling into Abel Tasman National Park in December 2019 saw a humpback breach between Tonga Quarry and Awaroa.
In the months before, Abel Tasman AquaTaxi skipper Jared Lawrence spotted two humpbacks cruising in Tasman Bay – the first time in his 12 years working on the water taxi that he had seen them in the park.
A humpback whale and her calf were also seen in November 2018 in the middle of Tasman Bay by Nelson man Peter Hamilton during a fishing trip.