National Geographic calls for orca sightings near Auckland

Tuesday, 20 August 2019

Makers of a new documentary on orca need a hand finding the far-travelling creatures.

National Geographic is calling for Kiwis to help spot orca, to feature in upcoming wildlife documentary.

An American film crew will spend three weeks north of Auckland filming orca, beginning Tuesday and continuing into September.

Red Rock Films, a production company based near Washington, DC, will be collaborating with two New Zealand experts on the series: founder of the Orca Research Trust, Dr Ingrid Visser and underwater cameraman and filmmaker, Kina Scollay.

Orca from the Hauraki Gulf will be the stars of a new National Geographic documentary, to be released in 2020.

Orca travel up to 150 kilometres a day, hunting stingrays in shallow bays and harbours, which means the public is helpful in filming and research.

* Close encounters of the orca kind: What to do if you see one

* Orca swim 'beneath feet' of excited crowd on Auckland's North Shore**

Filmmakers will rely on the public's help to locate orca around the country.

The crew are keen for sightings anywhere in the country, as it helps piece together their movements around New Zealand's coastline.

New Zealand's award-winning underwater cameraman, Kina Scollay, will be collaborating with American filmmakers.

Sightings can be reported to either an 0800 hotline, or through social media pages.

A social media co-ordinator will monitor on-line traffic for orca sightings in the region, to help the team locate the animals.

If the decision to head out is a 'go' they will activate a travel protocol to get them to the reported location with their boats, and highly-specialised filming gear.

The resulting footage will appear in a four-part television series on the National Geographic Channel, beginning in 2020.

To report an orca sighting or stranding via social media, please contact 0800 SEE ORCA, or through social media: Orca Research Trust and Kina Scollay.