DHAKA: About 143 whales are stranded on Farewell Spit in New Zealand’s (NZ) Golden Bay, report The Guardian on Friday.

The NZ Department of Conservation has staff at the scene and has called Project Jonah members in the region to the scene to help.

DOC conservation services manager for Golden Bay, Andrew Lamason, said there were about 143 pilot whales stranded on the beach.

“The tide is coming in and we’re looking at high tide just after 5pm,” he said on Friday.
DOC did not want members of the public to help.

“This is a very exposed place with winds and water and a lot of sun, and it will get cold.
“If we have people turning up without wetsuits they are a liability. We just want to work with the people we are confident with at the moment,” he said.

No whale deaths had been reported, but it was likely some of the whales would die because of the numbers involved in the stranding.

Project Jonah New Zealand, an organization dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins and seals and the oceans, posted a mass stranding alert on its Facebook page, but had yet to confirm the location.

Farewell Spit is a narrow-sand spit at the northern end of Golden Bay at the top of South Island. There have been previous whale stranding there.

BDST: 1022 HRS, FEB 13, 2015