Blue Whales off South Taranaki Bight - Taranaki Daily News

[Michael Szabo]

Evidence collected from a recent research project suggests the world’s largest animals - blue whales - are successfully breeding off the Taranaki coast, but their future is under threat from climate change.

Scientists from Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute spent three weeks at sea, studying the impacts of climate change on blue whales and krill in the South Taranaki Bight as part of the SAPPHIRE Project last month.

The South Taranaki Bight is a shallow coastal shelf region that stretches from the Taranaki peninsula across to the Nelson bays and Farewell Spit.

Project marine scientist Dr. Dawn Barlow said the team observed 66 blue whales during the trip, and while it was difficult to tell the sex of individual animals, there was evidence they had been breeding in the area.

“We did see five pairs of mums and calves and that’s a high number,” she said.

“The calves are fairly old when we see them, they’re not super, super tiny babies; but they were feeding on their own and were interacting and looking healthy.

Link to news report: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3606261 ... aki-bight/