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Story: Whales

Dead pilot whales

Dead pilot whales

In 2004 a pod of 74 pilot whales (from the dolphin family) was stranded on Ōpoutere Beach in the Coromandel. By the time they were discovered, 53 were dead. Eighteen were refloated at high tide. Rescuers, seen here in the distance, worked hard, stroking and comforting the last three. Two were successfully refloated. Those that died were farewelled with a karakia (prayer).

Using this item

New Zealand Herald

Reference: 1 December 2004

by Greg Bowker

Permission of the New Zealand Herald must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Gerard Hutching, Whales – Strandings: whales and dolphins, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7108/dead-pilot-whales (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Gerard Hutching, published 2 March 2009.

Comments

Old Waari
28 October 2011
One of the ways to help stranded whales are to float echo-location positive floaters in deeper waters where there are sloping beaches so that the whales won't wander in by accident. But, we should let the whales come in if they need sanctuary, because that is nature. Also, in order to save the young whales that want to stay by their dying elderly's side, we should set up stations in deep water that provides a place for whales to strand themselves when they are old and know that they are going to die. That way, the younger whales can stay by its side but still be in water.
Nani Flowers
28 October 2011
Whale strandings are tragic events that happen because a whale gets stuck in a shallow bay and cannot get out. Ways to prevent strandings from happening are we could build a fence that would keep all the whales from swimming into the shallow bays. This would be tricky to do though, but not impossible because Justin Bieber says to Never Say Never! We think that this could really work because it would be effective in keeping all the whales out of shallow bays and safe from strading themselves.
Kahu
27 October 2011
Sometimes whales will beach themselves when they are sick or injured. Ocean pollution can make them sick, and getting hit by ships injures them. If we can cut down on pollution, and ships can direct their routes around what migration paths and breeding/feeding grounds, we can decrease the number of stranded whales.
Kahu
27 October 2011
We could prevent standing's by planting a device in the sand off the coast and when it senses the whale passing it, it could sing a whale song to lure the whale back into the ocean. Although it would require very modern or even future technology, it would be worth it because we could help an endangered species back on their feet and NOT wipe them off the face of the earth.