Ship drags large whale to port

A dead fin whale has been discovered wrapped around the bow of a car freighter at Lyttleton Harbour.

A Port of Lyttleton spokesman said line supervisors at the port had discovered the carcass on Monday night and contacted the conservation department.

It was unclear where the ship, which left this morning, had sailed from.

Conservation Department marine officer Laura Allum said the ship's crew had arrived oblivious to the mishap.

"They actually didn't realise until almost they got into the harbour that they had a whale wrapped around their bow," she said.

Ms Allum said that while collisions between whales and ships did occur, it was not common.

"It's wrong place, wrong time really," she said.

A crane had to be bought in especially as crews worked for several hours to remove the carcass of the animal which was around 15m long and weighed 15 tonnes.

Marine scientists from Massey University were to perform an autopsy to determine a cause of death this afternoon, she said.

The whale would be buried at Bottle Lake Forest Park once the autopsy was complete.

Little was known about the migration patterns of fin whales but Ms Allum said it was not common for them to be in New Zealand waters.

The port spokesman said the local iwi had been called in to bless the carcass and would keep the jawbone for cultural and carving purposes.

Fin whales are the second largest mammal, behind only the blue whale.

Males can grow to around 27 metres and weigh more than 70 tonnes.

In July, a cruise liner struck a 71 tonne fin whale in Canada.