Cawthron Institute partners in whale tracking expedition to Auckland Islands

Scientists from Cawthron Institute and the University of Auckland have successfully attached satellite tracking tags to six New Zealand tohorā (southern right whales), and are inviting the public to follow the travels of the whales online.

The tracking expedition was part of a major research project monitoring tohorā in the sub-Antarctic where each winter they gather in the sheltered harbour of Port Ross in the Auckland Islands which serves as a nursery and socialising destination.

Cawthron scientist Dr Simon Childerhouse is one of New Zealand’s leading experts in marine mammal research and this trip to Port Ross was his eighth since he first began researching tohorā in the late 90s.

To find out more about this research, read the University of Auckland’s press release here.

You can follow the voyages of the whales and support the work at: www.tohoravoyages.ac.nz and www.liveocean.com