A NIWA expedition in the Cook Strait and South Taranaki coast has managed to put trackers on only two whales, due to warmer waters changing the mammal's movements.
The two-week expedition to tag blue whales in New Zealand waters for the first time almost came up empty due to warmer sea temperatures causing the animals to change their behaviour.
NIWA megafauna expert and marine ecologist Kim Goetz led the expedition hoping to tag up to eight blue whales to help understand their foraging and migration patterns.
The original plan was to locate and tag the whales in Cook Strait and off the coast of South Taranaki but when no whales were spotted, the expedition moved to the West Coast where a pod of 20 were spotted.