An orca has been tangled in a crayfish pot line in Whangārei Harbour and DoC wants people to stay away from the area while efforts are underway to free the marine mammal.
An orca has been tangled in a crayfish pot line in Whangārei Harbour and DoC wants people to stay away from the area while efforts are underway to free the marine mammal.
An orca is tangled in a cray pot line in Whangārei Harbour, in Northland and the Department of Conservation is urging people to stay away from the area while efforts are underway to free it.
DoC responded this morning to reports of the orca entangled in the line and wentto look for the mammal.
The tangled orca was found in Whangārei Harbour by Ingrid Visser and other members of the Orca Research Trust and its specialist disentanglement team is on site working to free him.
''We need space to do this work and request that the public do not approach the orca or DOC crews, stay at least 50m away in boats and do not enter the water,'' A DoC spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said DoC was the lead agency in whale strandings and entanglements and would direct the operation.
There are three orca in the pod with the large male who is tangled with the line and a large orange buoy.
Visser said the orca was first spotted near Tutukaka yesterday morning and members of the trust, working with Dive! Tutukaka, stayed with it until about 9pm last night when it was at Taiharuru, just north of Whangārei Harbour.
She and trust members caught up with it again in Whangārei Harbour this morning.
