Iwi start stripping whale carcass on Coromandel beach, focussing on head and jawbone
Wednesday, 26 October 2022
A “cultural harvest” of a 40-tonne sperm whale’s carcass has begun days after it washed up dead on the Coromandel coast.
A team from Northland iwi Ngātiwai joined local iwi Ngāt Hei on Wednesday to begin the flensing – stripping skin from the whale – as it proved too big to bury.
Stuff understands Ngātiwai’s tohunga (expert) Hori Parata will lead the procedure at Wharekaho Beach, northeast of Whitianga, and educate iwi in the process.
“We plan to start by removing the head and jaw bone for now,” he said on Wednesday afternoon.
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**
“After that we’ll see if the digger can pull it up further above the high tide mark.”
The flensing was described by one iwi member as a “cultural harvest.”
The whale, an adult male, washed up dead on Saturday at Matapaua but was towed south by boat, ostensibly because it would otherwise have posed a biological hazard.
But, once it reached Wharekaho Beach, burying the carcass proved too difficult. A 35-tonne digger couldn’t move the whale beyond the high tide surf. Earlier attempts to move the whale resulted in snapped cables and the risk of the carcass being mutilated further.
On Wednesday, the scene at the beach was one of calm. A tape was strung out from the dunes to the surf near the whale and two young DOC rangers kept watch.
In the distance, a team in white protective coveralls and spray jackets set to work stripping the carcass and could be seen wresting pieces from the whale.
From an elevation, a slick of fat can be made out on the water and in previous days the whale’s blood was visible too.
Kade, a DOC ranger who didn’t give his last name, described the rotting carcass’s smell - a mixture of rancid fat and sea salt - as unusual.
“It’s definitely a very unique smell”, he said.
DOC and Ngāti Hei’s decision to relocate the creature and begin the flensing procedure has been met with consternation from locals and some iwi members.
Undeterred by the smell, a steady stream of onlookers arrived to have a nosy at the otherworldly site. Some are simply curious, others are upset the whale was moved from its original site.
Linda Cholmondeley-Smith, whose house sits on the hills above the bay, was meeting her friend Ady Cole-Ewen for cake and described the situation as botched.
“The whole thing has been grossly mismanaged, and now we’ve got our beach closed.”
While Cole-Ewen describes the normal relationship between iwi and residents as excellent, things have soured with the stranding.
“I think it’s a great shame something that is supposed to be sacred wasn’t buried at sea. It’s been done before – they take them out behind the islands and give them a burial out there. Because, unfortunately, this has just created a big problem.”
Cholmondeley-Smith also asks who will foot the bill for towing the whale and its subsequent flensing.
“The big digger out there costs $150 an hour and has been there since Sunday.”
Doug Bourne, who lives locally and manages the block of estuarial land near the whale carcass on behalf of a New York-based dentist, believed decisions on the whale were up to the iwi.
“It’s up to them what they do with it really.”
But some Ngāti Hei iwi members themselves are nonplussed about the whale having been relocated.
One, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “It’s all a big, mighty shambles. And all at the taxpayers’ expense. This is now the fourth day of this fiasco.”