Marine mammal sighting form: Conservation

Introduction

Use the online form to report a marine mammal sighting. Report Māui dolphin or entangled/stranded/deceased animal sightings to 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468) immediately.

Your sighting will help us look after marine mammals by providing information about population sizes, breeding rates and movement patterns.

Call 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468) immediately if you see:

a Māui dolphin
an entangled, stranded, or deceased marine mammal.

Use the online form below to report other marine mammal sightings.

If you have photos of your marine mammal sighting email them to us separately at marinemammals@doc.govt.nz. Include your name so we can match photos to the correct form submission. Please detail any specific conditions regarding their use.

Online sightings form

You must fill in fields marked with *

Privacy disclosure: To process your request or information, we need to collect personal information about you. We'll only use your information for this purpose and we'll follow the principles of the Privacy Act 2020. See our privacy and security statement.

Your details

Name

Agency (if relevant) e.g. DOC, MPI, tourism operator

Phone number

Circumstances of sighting

Date of sighting (DD/MM/YYYY)

Time of sighting (HH:MM)

Location (describe the location of the sighting)

Latitude (Y; northing)

Longitude (X; easting)

Capture method

Where were you when you sighted the animal?

If platform is a vessel, what is the vessel name?

General description of weather conditions (wind conditions, tide, sea state, swell, etc)

Observation type (if unsure select “opportunistic/casual”)

Sighting information

Type of animal Whale Dolphin Seal/sea lion Other Unknown

Name of species – best guess or get help with identification

Description of sighting event

Estimated total minimum number of animals seen (adults and juveniles)

Number of juveniles/calves

Distance from shore, in metres (if known; no ranges)

Photos and Video

Do you have any photos or videos of your sighting? Yes No

Upload a file below (smaller than 100 mb) or send your photos and videos to marinemammals@doc.govt.nz

Conditions of image use Any (Creative Commons) - including externals e.g. researchers DOC use only

Creative Commons Licence

Other remarks

Add any extra details including behaviour of animal, direction they were travelling, length of animal, distinguishing features for species or individual identification (particularly useful if no photos were taken or photos aren’t great quality)