August 16th 2022: Whales and sharks

Mention the word whale to someone and you'll trigger a raft of heart-warming emotions. Mention the word shark and it's a whole different story. We humans have a primal and irrational fear of sharks – especially given how few incidents actually take place each year.

However, the presence of a whale carcass on a beach in Otago certainly has the potential to attract more sharks to that location. The scent of a decomposing whale has been likened to "crack cocaine" to a whale. I've never tried "crack cocaine" but if it's anything like a rib-eye steak cooked rare and washed down with a glass of Central Otago Pinot, then I can see the appeal for a shark.

A lot of surfers and beach users were confused as to why Doc and the local iwi eventually exhausted all options to move the whale and opted instead to leave the whale carcass in place. I was one of them initially. Then I visited the site and realised the mammoth task at hand. The more I thought about it the more I started to agree with leaving this giant in place. With my ecological hat on, the whale represents a huge food resource for many species in the area and the whole ecosystem will benefit as it slowly breaks down. Surely that's got to have positive flow on effects for us all. And maybe the question shouldn't always be "what suits us humans best?"

Over in Norway this week they culled a young walrus that had taken up residence in an Oslo Fjord, claiming a "threat to human safety". Freya, as they had named her, was jumping on boats and wrecked a few. People didn't heed the advice to stay away and got too close to her for selfies. That brought them into the deemed range of danger with the animal. And that ultimately justified extinguishing a perfectly healthy 600kg young walrus, despite the species having "protected" status. It makes me mad.

We really need to think about our own species in a more holistic and whole of ecosystem way. As the alpha species on earth we're doing a terrible job. Our strand in the web of nature reeks of self-interest and rapacity. Surely the laws of nature have proved their worth, proved their constancy? Maybe we should give them a try.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS You can read the full story from this most recent whale carcass stranding right here at NZ Surf Journal. Find out what the whale stranding means to local iwi and how you can keep yourself safe as a surfer or beach user in this new, temporary environment.