Fisherman films humpback whale’s spectacular breaching display
A ‘‘REALLY good day’s fishing’’ took a turn for the spectacular for an Oamaru man at the weekend.
Riki Wills was coming back into Oamaru on Sunday with his partner when just off Cape Wanbrow, about 6km from shore, he saw a humpback whale leap ‘‘clean out’’ of the water. It was his first whale sighting.
‘‘We weren’t going to go anywhere. We saw him jump clean out of the water and we got really excited, to be honest,’’ Mr Wills said. ‘‘It never stops surprising you — every day is a bit different out there.
‘‘This whale jumped out about three times — clean out — before we got that one [video]. He was jumping right out before that. It was amazing to watch.’’
While Mr Wills watched the whale came about 1km from shore.
Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said the humpbacks that swam New
Zealand waters were believed to head north to Tonga and beyond to breed before returning to their Antarctic summer feeding grounds.
The animals were most often spotted in April, May and June as they headed north along the coast.
At this time of year, the animals were heading south again, at times with calves in tow, and their migration routes did not typically run as close to the coast.
‘‘It’s certainly great that we’re seeing them,’’ Mr Fyfe said.
‘‘My sense is, from a local perspective, we’ve — for the migration going south — had more sightings in the last couple of months than I would normally expect to hear about.
‘‘It’s always worth keeping an eye out when you are out at sea — you might just get lucky,’’ he said.‘‘Those big long pectoral fins are very distinctive, and they’re the ones that have those lovely songs, too.’’
Sightings did help to inform researchers, he said.
‘‘Certainly for understanding the threats that might exist for them in our waters, understanding their migration movements up and down the country.
‘‘If we know they’re travelling through areas on a regular basis, more advocacy can be done to ensure that the methods used by fishermen don’t create extra risks for those species as they pass through. There is good reason to understand their habitat use and movements through New Zealand waters.’’