MEDIA RELEASE

24 MARCH 2017

Extremely rare sighting of two orca pods near Lyttelton Harbour

Local passengers and tourists aboard the Diamond Harbour Ferry, operated by Black Cat Cruises, were treated to a rare sighting of two large pods of orca near Lyttelton Harbour this morning.

“Orca rarely travel into Lyttelton Harbour so today’s sighting was very unusual,” said Black Cat Cruises skipper Dan Facer.

Mr Facer has skippered with Black Cat Cruises for five years and this was his first sighting.

Orca were initially spotted by Diamond Harbour locals at about 9am this morning. At 10.50am, passengers aboard the Black Cat Cruises ferry travelling from Lyttelton Harbour to Diamond Harbour noticed a large pod, which included a mother and young calf, heading toward Quail Island. On the return journey at 11am another large pod of orca were seen near Purau Bay.

“The mother and calf were likely going to feed near Quail Island as the surrounding waters are a common breeding ground for large fish,” Mr Facer said.

“The second pod sighted in Purau Bay was very active and inquisitive. It was a large pod with orca of all ages and sizes. They put on an awesome display of tail slapping and breaching at the back of the boat. It was the best sighting we’ve ever had on our Diamond Harbour Ferry.”

To ensure the viewing was safe and unobtrusive, Mr Facer slowed down the ferry and kept a safe distance from the orca. The engines were also turned off when orca approached the back of the boat, allowing passengers to marvel one of the world’s largest apex predators.

“Orca are very intelligent animals that are well-organised and follow highly complex social structures within their pods, which often consist of large groups of family members that can span several generations,” Mr Facer said.

While there is not a typical orca migration season in New Zealand, Black Cat Cruises usually reports a number of sightings each year with the majority occurring in spring. The first orca of the season were sighted in Akaroa Harbour by Black Cat Cruises in October last year.

At midday today (Friday, 24 March), a group of Black Cat Cruises staff ventured out to locate the orca and found the pod near the headland of Camps Bay.

“We sat and marvelled at them for about an hour. The calves were breaching in the distance, tales were slapping and a number of curious orca came up to view our boat,” said Black Cat Cruises Sales and Marketing Manager Natasha Lombart.

“It was a beautiful sight to see them swimming in unison, especially with the large alpha male whose dorsal fin towered over the others.”

Black Cat Cruises was the first eco-tourism operator in Canterbury to receive Sustainable Marine Mammal Actions in Recreation and Tourism (SMART) certification from the Department of Conservation (DOC) in 2015.

SMART is a voluntary collaboration between commercial boat operators and the DOC for the protection of marine mammals in New Zealand. It aims to promote responsible behaviour around dolphins, whales and seals by boat operators.

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ADDITIONAL NOTES:

· Orca – often referred to as killer whales – are one of the most well-recognised animals in the world due to their large size and distinct black and white markings.

· Orca are the largest animal in the dolphin family and one of the only known cetaceans to attack sharks, whales and other large marine animals.

· Having no known predators, orca are known as an apex or alpha predator. This means it’s able to hunt freely without fear of being attacked by another marine animal.

· Orca are protected in New Zealand waters under the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978, administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

· DOC is beginning to understand that there are different types of orca throughout the world, and work on defining these types is currently underway. Even within New Zealand, it has been proposed that there are three different types, based on observations of different food preferences.

· New Zealand is home to an estimated 150–200 orca, which travel long distances throughout the country’s coastal waters.

· Males typically grow between seven and eight metres long and weigh up to 5.5 tonnes, whereas females are smaller reaching approximately six metres in length and up to 3.6 tonnes in weight. Males also have a distinctive dorsal fin up to 1.8 metres tall. The fin of females is shorter (about 0.9 metres) and more curved.

· Black Cat Cruises has been in business for over 30 years and has enjoyed huge growth in passenger numbers over that time. In its first year in 1985 Black Cat carried fewer than 3000 passengers but that annual number is now more than the 3.5 million.

· Black Cat Cruises is backed by Queenstown-based tourism operator Real Journeys, which has a 50 per cent shareholding in the company.

· Black Cat Cruises also operates a Diamond Harbour Ferry service.

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