Lure of rays draws orcas

A pod of 12 orca have made themselves at home in Queen Charlotte Sound in the past two days, much to the delight of people on the water.


Co-owner of Dolphin Watch Ecotours Dan Engle said they were first seen in Tawa Bay in Endeavour Inlet late on Monday afternoon.

The pod consisted of two big males, lots of females and at least three calves that were awkward and clumsy, so they were probably born within the past month, he said. The group has moved throughout Queen Charlotte Sound since Monday night going into each little bay, possibly for a feed of stingray.

Mr Englehaupt said Dolphin Watch Ecotours had a boat full of people who were aiming to swim with dolphins, but the orca were purely for observation.

"You can't swim with orca - they eat things bigger than people," he said.

Mr Englehaupt and his wife Amy took photographs off Lochmara Bay of the mature orca's dorsal fins and the saddle, a whitish area behind the fins, to identify each animal. These will be sent to Ingrid Visser of the Orca Research Trust for further identification.

"A lot of times you can pick one out of a group that you know, but this time there were none I could identify off the top of my head," Mr Englehaupt said.

Ms Visser set up the first research project dedicated to orca in the South Pacific. She gathers information on individual orcas from around New Zealand, identifying them from photographs sent to her. People also send her their observations of orcas' behavioral patterns.

Mr Englehaupt went out on the water yesterday morning Jan 6 and said that when he left the pod at about 10.30am yesterday they were heading out of Queen Charlotte Sound. They could be on their way to Kaikoura, French Pass or Wellington.