Wow! What a fantastic photo of a southern right whale and calf, seen in Wellington harbour Tuesday afternoon!

Let's give them plenty of space (200 metres) to socialise and bond – such special visitors to have calling in to our capital city.

Photo: Dwight Lorenzen pic.twitter.com/GLup3FqrRT

— Project Jonah (@ProjectJonah) August 28, 2018

Report from RNZ
Wellington has today been treated to Southern Right Whale and its calf in the harbour – but a marine mammal charity says the pair aren’t likely to stick around.

Last month, another Southern Right Whale, affectionately named Matariki, spent several days in the harbour and caused the postponement of the Wellington fireworks show.

There has been some speculation on social media that this could be the same whale.

However, whale expert Nadine Bott confirmed that the white growths on the top of this whale’s head are different to the previous visitor.

Project Jonah New Zealand general manager Daren Grover says the mother and calf are unlikely to stay that long.

“Southern right whales have been seen in the past off the coast of New Zealand, usually they’re seen slowly moving along the coast and it’s quite rare for them to spend more than a day or so in one single spot.”

“The behaviour we saw from Matariki in Wellington harbour a couple of months ago was quite unusual,” Mr Grover said.

About 2500 southern right whales are thought to inhabit New Zealand waters.

Ms Bott said historically, it wasn’t unusual for whales to bring their calves into the harbour but it has become less common in modern times. However, there appears to be an increasing number of whales coming into the harbour, she said.

The whales tend to spend the summer months further offshore feeding before coming in to the inshore waters where they fast and have their young, Ms Bott said. People need to stay at least 200m away and drones must stay 150m away so the mother doesn’t get upset and to protect the calf.

Earlier report from RNZ
Several Southern Right whales are currently in the waters around Wellington, including what is believed to be a mother and calf in the harbour.

The Department of Conservation said there was also potentially another pair on the Kapiti coast.

DOC said it had not yet been able to determine if they are known whales.

It said people should stay at least 200 metres away from a whale and calf, further than the usual 50 metres stand-off distance for marine mammals.