The playful and curious orca entertained those on the boat for about 20 minutes.

A Coromandel harbourmaster has posted that he was stood down after saving an orca which got its tail caught in a cray pot last night.

Photographer's drone video captures local kayaker Tim Stewart swimming with orca off Army Bay

Stunned fishermen spotted a gigantic alien-like ball floating off the coast of Western Australia before it was devoured by hungry sharks.

Japan has advised the International Whaling Commission it will resume whaling in the Southern Ocean but has reduced its intended take.

The New Zealand Government has hit out at Japan's decision to resume Southern Ocean whaling - a move which defies the International Whaling Commission.

A minke whale that beached itself on an Auckland beach yesterday does not appear to have re-stranded today.

A video posted by explore.org, a multimedia wing of the philanthropic Annenberg Foundation dedicated to documenting wildlife, shows belugas approaching a boat while a cellist on board plays The Beatles. The scene was captured by explore.org's Beluga Boat Cam, a project that broadcasts beluga sightings underwater and on deck. Source: explore.org /Facebook

This year’s Cook Strait Whale Survey counted 137 humpback whales, its highest tally in its 12 years and an encouraging indication their numbers are increasing in New Zealand. The annual four-week Department of Conservation survey, which ended on July 11, also broke its record for the highest number of humpbacks seen in a day with 27 spotted on Sunday June 21.

Hundreds of scientists have rallied against a new Japanese proposal to kill whales in the name of research — a plan one New Zealand marine biologist calls whaling in disguise.

Twenty-one surviving whales from a mass stranding at Whakatane have been successfully refloated and are back at sea. DOC staff and volunteers at Ohope Beach had initially been waiting for high tide at 6pm tonight to attempt the refloat. However the conditions changed and around 11am they were able to successfully refloat the pilot whales and they had headed out to sea. The refloat followed 30 other whales who were refloated last night.

Centuries of over-exploitation of whales for their meat and blubber has seen populations of most species plummet. But with no small amount of irony, the tables have turned with research discovering that we need whales for a healthy marine ecosystem.

To mark the start of Japan's whaling season, workers in the coastal town of Minamiboso carved up one of the animals before a crowd of school children.

A long weekend away turned out to be better than expected for one Auckland family who got up close and personal with orca whales near Kawau Island.

A long weekend away turned out to be better than expected for Andrea Hegan, who paddled alongside a number of orca whales near Kawau Island on Sunday.

It was a bizarre phenomenon that troubled researchers for decades – a mysterious under sea 'quacking' heard every winter and spring in the depths of the Southern Ocean.

Japan expects its whaling programme in the Southern Ocean will resume next year, court documents indicate.

Murray McCully is warning against indulging in "triumphalism". He fears that if we denigrate the Japanese, this will hurt their national pride, writes Brian Rudman.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says government and activists should not be gloating about a court decision to halt Japan's whaling programme.

Not too much was expected when Australia went to the International Court of Justice seeking to end Japanese whale hunting in the Southern Ocean.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully warned against gloating about Japan's defeat this morning.

The anti-whaling ship Bob Barker has docked in Wellington harbour.

Attempts to help a 4m-long pilot whale which tried to beach itself at Kaka Point last night failed, with the whale eventually left to die on the rocks.

A Japanese whaling vessel reportedly tailed an anti-whaling ship close to Otago's coastline - inside New Zealand's exclusive economic zone - against the wishes of the NZ Government.