Featured Image Credit: Troy Dando Fishing via Youtube
By Eva Gruber
Matthew Collicott, a man working as harbor-master in Whitianga Harbor, New Zealand, lost his job last month for aiding in the attempts to save a tangled orca whale. His employer believed that it was a breach of contract to use his work vessel for non-work activities. Hearing about this heartless move by an impersonal employer, locals gathered together to stand by the man who left his job to help in a desperate, timely situation to save a whale.
Starting a petition on change.org to reverse his employer’s decision, hundreds of people from around Whitianga, and beyond, signed their names to his good deed. The council released a statement, saying that Mr. Collicott had been removed from the position and was due to leave the job that day, and in the meantime he was relieved of some operational duties, including operating vessels. The petition demands that the council become more attuned and responsive to the needs of the community, and that it apologizes to Mr. Collicott for their actions. As of today, over 4,100 signatures have been collected by the petition.
The orca had become tangled in a crayfish pot trap in the neighboring Kennedy Bay. The entangling was reported at 9:30 am on a Wednesday, and the Department of Conservation deployed to deal with the situation. Collicott left the harbor in a Waikato Harbor Council boat with a group, including one person experienced in whale entanglements. By the time Collicott had arrived on the scene, the DoC had not yet been able to release the entangled whale, and the group on the harbor-master’s boat decided to take action.
The problem was that most of the Department’s trained staff was on the other side of the Coromandel Peninsula and could not get there in time. Plans were made to be there Thursday morning at 9 am to attempt another rescue, but by that time Collicott and his crew had already helped free the whale overnight. At that point, the animal had been trapped for over 16 hours. “It was quite amazing to see it swim off into the moonlight, you know. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime situation that none of us will ever forget. It was just such a cool thing to be part of,” said Matthew Collicott of the rescue. It is still to be determined if the Department of Conservation will take any action against Mr. Collicott who, in theory, was violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Marine mammalogist and orca expert Dr. Ingrid Visser weighed in on the issue, upset by how Mr. Collicot lost his job over the rescue, especially considering how unique the New Zealand orcas are. Dr. Visser said that we should be fiercely protecting the New Zealand orca population. There are fewer orcas than kiwis (one of New Zealand’s famous, flightless endangered birds) – only around 200. They have their own dialect, hunting technique and social groupings which distinguishes them from other orca populations around the world.
It’s been nearly a month since the incident and drama took place, and we have yet to hear a resolution regarding the harbor-master’s job. Hopefully, the event will be considered in full, as he played a crucial role in saving the whale’s life. Asked about the incident, Mr. Collicott says he’d do it all over again.