Rotting whale carcass fouls bay beach, New Zealand

CHARLOTTE SQUIRE

Last updated 12:00 29/12/2012

A Golden Bay accommodation owner who watched a dead, partially decomposed whale wash up on to his busy beach front yesterday morning is upset he cannot do anything about it, and the only authority which can is closed for business.

Gordon Hampson, owner-operator of Adrift Beachfront Accommodation in Tukurua, said someone from the Department of Conservation should have come out and buried the rotting whale or dragged it away, but he could not get reach anyone at the local office.

Mr Hampson first spotted the whale when it was out at sea.

“It was a couple of hundred metres offshore, so I kayaked out. I thought it was a southern right whale and I thought DOC would be very excited about it. Then I realised it was dead and that parts of it were coming out.

“It’s a nuisance at the moment. It has intestines poking out, kids are poking at it.”

When the whale arrived at the front of his property and sent a strong smell up into his home, Mr Hampson called the DOC office. An answerphone message said it was closed until January 7.

“Even though it wasn’t really an emergency I called the 0800 line . . . the man asked how bad the smell was on a scale of one to 10, I said 10! He told me they couldn’t do anything about it until the 7th of January so I said, ‘if I do anything with it am I in trouble?’ He said ‘yes’.”

Under the Marine Mammals Protection Act Mr Hampson understands that he has to get permission from DOC to do anything to the dead whale.

There’s a penalty of $250,000 or six months in jail if he takes any action.

Mr Hampson said the tradition of “everybody closing up shop together and going on holiday at the same time” needs to change, especially in Golden Bay where the economy is very reliant on the summer tourism season.

Golden Bay DOC office spokesman Gregg Knapp said Mr Hampson’s call had gone to the national call centre and he was not aware that the whale had washed up on Tukurua Beach.

He said he had seen a whale washed up on nearby Para Para sand spit the day before and he was hoping it would not wash up on a well used beach, where it would be unsafe for the public.

On average it costs $1500-$2000 to shift a whale.

Mr Knapp said he would arrange to have the whale washed up at Tukurua removed.

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