Christine Rose: Whale and Dolphin Count Organiser on fifth annual nationwide count this weekend

The fifth annual dolphin and whale count is taking place nation-wide this weekend.  

The count contributes both a snapshot at the same time every year, and information about the marine mammals close to shore across time. 

Whale and Dolphin Count Organiser, Christine Rose, told Tim Beveridge “We encourage people to go to the coastline and stare out to sea for a couple hours and report what you see.” 

Rose said “It’s a celebration of the marine life we share our world with.”  

She said “We want people to be aware of the whales and dolphins that are in New Zealand – at this time of year humpbacks and Southern right whales are migrating from Antarctica to the tropics.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Marine life lovers are in for a big weekend with
the Whale and Dolphin Count taking place across New Zealand,
and event organizer Christine Rose joins me. Now, Christine, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
So how does this work? Whale and Dolphin Count?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah? Tell us how are you doing in the survey?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks? Well? The country wide Whale and Dolphin Count. This
is our fifth year and it's brought to the country
by the Whale and Dolphin Watch New Zealand or Cetacean
Spotting in said Facebook group and it's really easy to
take part, especially on a weekend that's shaping up to
be as beautiful as this one is. We just encourage
people to go to the coastline and steer out to

(00:58):
see for a couple of hours and support what people see.
Is it? So?

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Is it? It doesn't sound massively scientific? Is it more
an awareness thing? Just sort of focusing on whales and
dolphins and getting a feel for I don't know what
are we trying to get from it?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, it's a couple of things. So Firstly, it's a
real celebration of the marine life that we share our
world with and in particular New Zealand's coastline. We do
have a high number of different whales and dolphins in
our coastline and we've got a lot of coastline, so
that's really exciting. So we want people to be aware
of the whales and dolphins that are in New Zealand

(01:39):
and even those in particular this time of year that
are moving up the coastline, so the humpbacks and the
southern right whales that are migrating from Antarctica up to
the tropics and can be seen if we're lucky, from shore.
And so it's about raising awareness of those that live
here all the time and those that are passing and
encouraging people to be stewards of that marine life. But

(02:01):
by doing and doing so bringing focus and to the
fact that people can stand on on headlands. You don't
need a boat, you don't need to pay big butts
to get out on the water if you're if you
are focused and you spend a couple of hours there
are there is a chance. It's never a guarantee that
you will see whales and dolphins. But I mean part

(02:23):
of the fun is in the looking and the fact
that it's a family friendly opportunity to get out in
nature in the middle of winter. Address our seasonal what
is it? What's SAD seven disorder?

Speaker 3 (02:38):
So just how many people actually participate in it and
how many reports of sidings do you get as a
rough guide.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
It's building every year and so it's really hard to tell.
And it does depend on the weather. So some years
we've had one hundred people take part and sightings right
around the country. So you know, we do depend on
people getting motivated and you know, dragging the family and
brings along. So to say for this few thinks to

(03:07):
shows yours. We're getting the word out there and hopefully
people will be flocking to the coast fantastic.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Is it easy to identify the whales and the dolphins
you see? Imagine it depends how close you are, I guess.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
They do have distinctive features. So for example, the southern
right whale spout is a v whereas a humpback is
a single plume, and so you can identify whales. Yeah,
And the best thing is to get out early or
in the evening, you know, when the sea conditions are
calm and the light is low, and then you can
see the plume and the backs. And we've got some

(03:41):
handy idea guides on our Facebook group, so head over
and have a look.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Okay, thanks very much. Good luck with that, Christine. Great
initiative and a nice way to spend the day or
the afternoon.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
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