leave the whales to their singing
Nearly half of the world’s cetacean species (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are known to live in, visit, feed, or breed in New Zealand waters. The sea is precious.
My grandmother was a pianist, she lived by the sea - in fact I grew up in her house - her piano, a baby grand, was covered in blankets when not in use so the sea air did not dull the tuning. My great-uncle was a farmer who grew prize-winning cattle by the sea. My grandfather was a junk yard man he and my other grandmother lived in Brighton (in Christchurch) by the sea. My great - grandfather had property on the East Coast by the sea.
My father built small fishing boats - his workshop was by the sea.
I went to school literally running along the beach then climbing the dunes put our shoes back on and into the school we ran.
Hardly surprising, being a boatbuilders daughter, and with a history like that - that the sea is in my thoughts constantly.
None of them were fishermen though. Even though my father built fishing boats my family through the years spent more time observing the sea than fishing in it.
Our house was mere steps from high tide. We had dinghy’s and kayaks and surfboards littering the front lawn where other kids might have bikes and tennis rackets.
At times we would see Orca’s in the bay where we lived - but never whales. They were long gone.
But let’s think about whales for a moment. I have been thinking about whales and sea creatures a lot lately.
We need to take good care of the ocean.
If I had my way there would be no deep sea fishing, no cruise ships, no dumping, no explosives dropped on boats, no deep sea drilling, no floating rubbish barges. Nothing bigger than a small fishing boat on or in the sea for fifty years. Allow the oceans and all their magic fishes to recover.
Imagine that. In the bays around Wellington, in the 1860’s it was reported that settlers were being kept awake at night from whale song. This may be an urban legend of sorts, an anecdote from 19th-century or imagined early settler observations from the 1840’s. But it is a lovely thought.
Sadly whaling decimated the numbers of whales in New Zealand waters. I hate people who kill whales with a passion.
They are gone now. Almost all the whales with their great brains and language and songs and love for their babies and now all the bastard whalers are gone too from New Zealand and her waters.
Even though this was a dark dreadful chapter in New Zealand’s history (whaling in New Zealand spanned roughly 150 years, from the late 1790s to 1964). We should remember it. So we can do better. Make amends if we can. In 1964 the last whaling station in New Zealand, at Tory Channel (Perano Whaling Station) in the Marlborough Sounds, closed after whale numbers collapsed. And in 1978 after hard lobbying, by my parents generation, the Marine Mammals Protection Act was passed, making it illegal to hunt, kill, or harass any whale, dolphin, or seal in New Zealand waters.
Save the Whales was the chant of my youth!
But slowly, slowly these ocean giants have begun to recover. Though I imagine trust in humans is never coming back. I totally get that!
The good news is that even now - in spite of our disgusting habit of dumping plastic and microplastics and all kinds of shit into the sea and in spite of big ships hitting whales and in spite of over a century of hunting the whale populations are on a tentative rise.
Nearly half of the world’s cetacean species (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are known to live in, visit, feed, or breed in New Zealand waters. So. New Zealanders and their visitors have a big responsibility.
Cetacean species are fully aquatic mammals that breathe air, give birth to live young, and nurse them with milk.
Extraordinary.
Whale numbers are slowly increasing - four decades of whaling bans and new protections (including protections of some feeding and breeding grounds - an initiative we hope to expand) have allowed humpbacks, blue whales, and southern rights to slightly recover.
Now we begin to work on shipping lanes - keeping these big ships out of the whales breeding and nursery waters.
For instance humpback whale numbers in the North Pacific are growing at about 4–7% a year and blue whales are slowly recovering at around 2–4% a year. But big ship traffic is also rising with global container shipping demand up more than 11% since the pandemic, (stop shopping at Temu buy local - save the whales).
Do we need to factor in that shipping traffic is now set to decline in 2025 due to the US tariffs?
And you know how I feel about cruise ships. They are terrible for the environment.
By the way the above section took hours to write - there was a lot of research and cross referencing and triangulating data for this post. I like researching- and love anything to do with the sea.
Though tomorrow we are back to the garden!
Despite the increase in sightings, whale and orca populations remain vulnerable. There are only about 150 - 200 Orca in the North Pacific mostly in and around Kaikōura, Marlborough Sounds waters. (Though they move around a lot so are hard to count!).
According to the Department of Conservation (DOC), the number of marine mammal species in New Zealand classified as Threatened or At Risk has increased from 10 in 2019 to 14 in 2025. This includes species such as the sperm whale, pygmy blue whale, southern right whale dolphin, goose-beaked whale, and pygmy sperm whale, which have been added to the list.
So let’s stay vigilant. I know the threat to Chicago (and other cities) from the US Government weighs heavily on those of us who have lived and worked in the States. My farm is just South of Chicago. I am desperate for my very legal immigrant friends there. I agree that there is something afoot that needs our attention and we need to pay attention and protect our neighbours but at the same time, the same time, we do need to keep working to protect our earth and her creatures.
That does not go away. In fact with the fracturing of the rule of law in my adopted country and the feelings of hopelessness and vulnerability, I feel some relief when I can go back to the world of the sea and spend time there.
There is so much to do. But it is good work to try and live simply with others and other species if we are able to.
About 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the world’s oceans annually from coastal countries. I know we can do better than that. We could start there.
Let’s keep doing the good work of keeping our seas clean and safe for our marine and human life. Keep your plastic to yourself.
What you do matters.
I have been working in my little city garden in Melbourne these last few days -
More on that tomorrow!
Celi
Thank you! How we treat whales and waters reflects how we treat immigrants and the vulnerable medically or otherwise. It is all part of one fabric. Tending one thread well draws us into the patterns and strength of it all together. I appreciated this greatly. And also, I will look forward to the gardens and kitchens again :). Thanks for your story.
We get humpbacks in my part of Mexico. They are in Alaska now, but in a couple months they'll return to our bay where they'll have their babies. It's fun to think that my sister in Alaska is seeing the same whales we see here during the winter.