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The Bluff Yacht Club played a key role in a scientific expedition to Maungahuka Auckland Islands recently that saw a unique encounter between an Orange Roughy and a tohorā / southern right whale.
The expedition in June and July 2021 was the second of two planned trips to Maungahuka Auckland Islands to study tohorā and received funding from Live Ocean, the environmental charity set up by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Tohorā are a key sentinel species for climate change throughout the Southern
Hemisphere, with strong correlations between environmental conditions at their offshore
feeding grounds and reproductive success and recovery of wintering populations. They numbered as few as 40 in 1920 as a result of international whaling but rebounded to about 2000 a decade ago.
This year's expedition needed some help, and that's where the Bluff Yacht Club came in. Expedition leader Dr Emma Carroll of Auckland University approached Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercombie to help find a suitable RIB to to be used for close encounters with tohorā.
Abercrombie remembered from a visit to the Bluff Yacht Club for their Oyster Regatta that they had one and connected Carroll and Bluff rear commodore Anders Jagvik.
A tohorā gets close to Orange Roughy on the recent expedition. Boats are not permitted to be within 50m of a whale, or 200m if it has a calf, without a New Zealand Department of Conservation permit. The expedition to Maungahuka Auckland Islands had a permit. Photo: Richard Robinson. Banner image: University of Auckland Tohorā Research Team taken under Department of Conservation permit.
The expedition team named the RIB Orange Roughy, due to its bright orange colour and the fact the motor started to run a bit rough after idling for hours on end around the whales. Their RIB was used by New Zealand Geographic videographers to shoot 3D 360 virtual reality of the tohorā which Blake will roll out in schools and also used by NZ Geographic, the researcher and Live Ocean in outreach.
On top of its valuable role, it also piqued the interest of a curious tohorā, as Carroll described in an email to the Bluff Yacht Club.
"One lunch time, Orange Roughy was on its bowline floating off the back of the Evohe," Carroll wrote. "I noticed that there was a tohorā spy hopping - sticking its head out of the water - right behind Orange Roughy. Essentially the whale was holding itself vertically in the water so that its eye was level with your RIB.
"As Orange Roughy swung gently back and forth behind the Evohe with the breeze, the tohorā followed it, carefully matching its speed and direction. The tohorā was really taken by the boat. They really are curious and many of these whales probably haven't seen a boat before, let alone a bright orange one!
"Eventually the whale built up the courage to nudge the Orange Roughy. But when the RIB didn't interact back, the whale seemed to be disappointed and swam off, probably to find another tohorā to play with instead."
This story and their role in the research expedition had a positive impact on members at the Bluff Yacht Club.
"To us, this is not only a story of research into a threatened species, a story of highly-achieving yachting personalities creating an avenue for improving our oceans or about a small local yacht club making its equipment available for greater things," Jagvik said. "To us, this is a story of connecting people and what can be achieved by working together for a common aim.
"We have had a lot of joy in being able to assist in our small way and we would encourage any other yacht club to do the same. The gains for us have been non-monetary but extremely rewarding nonetheless."
The southern right whale - tohorā project aims to understand where and on what this endangered whale feeds, and how climate change at its feeding grounds is influencing its recovery from whaling.
This has involved satellite tracking the tohroā, and you can follow their voyages here.
As well as supporting the science into how this recovering population is responding to the changing ocean, New Zealanders need to be aware the whales are returning to the mainland as the population recovers. You can read more about the scientific work here. Any sightings of tohorā can be lodged by calling O800 DOC HOT and a guide on tohorā sightings can be found here.
The work is supported by funding from Live Ocean, Department of Conservation, Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi, Lou and Iris Fisher Charitable Trust, International Whaling Commission - Southern Ocean Research Partnership, Joyce Fisher Trust, Brian Sheth/Sangreal Foundation, Cawthron Institute, Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition and University of Auckland.
