Humpback whale dies after being caught in rope

A humpback whale tangled in a cray pot line during an earlier incident in Northland in 2018.
Photo: Catherine Peters DOC

A humpback whale has died after becoming caught in a cray pot rope off the Northland coast.

The death is revealed in a report for Fisheries New Zealand detailing accidental catches of seabirds and protected marine species between 1 July and 30 September.

Fisheries New Zealand would not say exactly when or where the whale died, except that it occurred in September.

RNZ understands the entanglement took place off Northland’s east coast.

Fisheries New Zealand science and information director Simon Lawrence confirmed the whale’s death.

It was the first recorded death of a humpback whale due to entanglement with a rock lobster (crayfish) pot buoy rope in New Zealand, he said.

The fisher reported the incident to the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Fisheries New Zealand, as required.

While whale deaths due to crayfish pots are rare, entanglements in buoy ropes and other fishing gear are not.

In November, a humpback whale was freed by DOC staff after being tangled in a cray pot rope for 18 hours at Kaikoura.

A similar incident occurred off the Otago coast in June, while in February 2023 a sighting of a humpback off Northland’s Doubtless Bay with a crayfish pot rope tangled around its tail sparked a major search by air and sea.

In February, a rare Arnoux’s beaked whale became tangled in oyster bag lines in Northland’s Whangaroa Harbour.

The Fisheries New Zealand report also revealed 75 seabirds were caught during the September quarter, including 15 albatross – up from nine in the same period last year.

Two Hector’s dolphins were caught, one off the west coast of the South Island and the other off Banks Peninsula.

Six endangered sea lions were caught in the same period, three of those by scampi fishers near the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands. One was caught in a set net at Stewart Island.

The New Zealand sea lion is the world’s rarest species of sea lion, with an estimated population of just 10,000.

Just under 300 New Zealand fur seals were caught in the September quarter, compared to 247 during the same quarter last year.

Six sea turtles were caught but all were released alive.

Lawrence said there was no evidence whale populations were affected by entanglements with rock lobster pot buoy ropes, and the number of humpback whales migrating through New Zealand waters appeared to be increasing.

DOC and the New Zealand Rock Lobster Industry Council promoted various methods to reduce the risk of pot fishing gear to whales, he said.

That included education around responsible gear management, including retrieval of lost or abandoned gear; avoiding areas where whales were present; knowing what to do if a whale was entangled; and reporting any sightings promptly and accurately.

Fisheries New Zealand’s advice to anyone who sees an entangled whale is: