Nelson-based Daren Grover is a passionate campaigner for marine mammals and is General Manager of the organisation that’s been saving whales and dolphins for the last 50 years – Project Jonah.
What is Project Jonah?
Project Jonah is a not-for-profit organisation focusing on marine mammal welfare that’s been saving whales since 1974. Our work includes direct response to whale and dolphin strandings around the country, as well as raising awareness of potential negative impacts of our actions as a society on their environment. Another important aspect of our work is education in schools and training people to become Marine Mammal Medics to work with animals during a stranding.
Project Jonah General Manager Daren Grover. Photo by Tim Cuff.
How often do strandings occur in New Zealand?
We expect approximately 300 events on average each year, which includes mass and single strandings, as well as dead whales. Strandings are complicated events and reasons for them can include illness, old age, weather and tides, being struck by a boat, ingesting ocean-borne rubbish, chasing prey and impacts of climate change.
What’s the biggest stranding you’ve assisted with?
In February 2017 over 600 long-finned pilot whales stranded on Farewell Spit in Golden Bay. That was a three-day event. We asked all our Marine Mammal Medics in the Top of the South and Wellington regions to attend and sent out calls on all media.
I was there at first light and there were close to 300 whales at that stage still alive. We had over 1,000 people turn up each day to help – it was just incredible.
On the third day we managed to refloat those surviving whales. We had a few hundred people, waist-deep in the ocean, forming a human chain barrier to prevent them swimming back up on the beach. Another pod of pilot whales came into the bay, so there were around 500 pilot whales and they swam along the human chain, almost within touching distance. It was an incredible feeling. Seeing them finally swim away was emotional but seeing those that hadn’t survived on the shore was devastating.
How many people are involved in Project Jonah?
There are two of us working full-time – myself and a communications manager – and 15 experienced volunteers strategically based around the country who are regional leaders to coordinate our medics at strandings. We've also got over 5,500 volunteer marine mammal medics who’ve completed our specialised training course and elected to be on call to respond to strandings in their region.
What is it important to do if a dolphin or whale strands?
What’s needed isn’t always common sense and that’s another reason why a lot of the work we do is around education. Anyone who finds a whale or dolphin on the beach should phone either us or DOC for help, as we will alert each other. Response depends on the species. For a single large sperm whale on the beach it's a very different response to a mass stranding.
Project Jonah volunteers help with a mass stranding. Photo supplied.
The key is to reduce their stress and keep the animals cool by pouring water over their bodies. If you haven’t got a bucket, use a shoe to scoop the water, or soak a jumper, towel or whatever’s handy to keep the skin wet and shiny but making sure to avoid the blow hole because that’s the only way they can breathe.
As the tide comes in, we can hold them in place and stop them rolling onto their sides before they can swim. If it’s a mass stranding, we want to refloat them all at the same time.
What does your work involve?
I’ve been involved in 200 incidents in my 12 years. Of those I’ve attended around 40. The geography of New Zealand means a lot of the work we do is responding in the moment to give people guidance on what they should and shouldn't do.
Whether we’re working remotely or mobilising, we’re reaching out to our medics in the region of the event – via a web-to-text-system that can reach several hundred people. For those available we send specific directions and instructions so they can assess the situation and engage with members of the public.
We also liaise with a global network of around 20 organisations, which includes the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the global Stranding Experts Panel at the International Whaling Commission. If we have an event we haven’t experienced before then we reach out, and vice versa – we’ve been able to help others with advice too.
What’s it like attending a stranding?
It’s highly emotional: whales have distress cries that go out, calling for help, which could lead to further strandings as other animals respond.
When you spend time with a whale you get that you’re connecting with another soul. Some people find it quite spiritual and some start to bond with the animal very quickly.
If that happens and the whale dies, we have grief-stricken people who’ve worked hard to try and save it. Part of our role at Project Jonah is looking after the people so they can look after whales and dolphins – so there are a few things we can do to help protect them, such as rotating those helping to manage the time they spend with individual animals.
What does your education programme involve?
We run about 15-20 classes a year around the country for Marine Mammal Medic training but in five major centres we also have a mix of contractor and volunteer education presenters going out to schools, kindergartens and community groups. They have resources including inflatable life-size dolphins. We teach what to do if they find a stranded whale or dolphin on the beach and talk about the human impacts on the marine environment.
Last year we presented to over 12,000 children and at the start of next year we’re launching a very exciting education resource – a life-size 15m-long inflatable humpback whale that has a classroom in its belly, with the anatomy of the whale inside.
Project Jonah is a not-for-profit organisation focusing on marine mammal welfare that’s been saving whales since 1974. Photo by Tim Cuff.
Project Jonah is 50 years old – how did it start?
Project Jonah initially started by campaigning against the re-establishment of commercial whaling in New Zealand in the early 1970s.
We were one of those early voices for protection for marine mammals. Then Frank Robson, who was a welfare specialist, worked to build up knowledge of what to do in the event of strandings. At the time we were trailblazing and since then we’ve shared that knowledge with other groups around the world.
Almost 40 years ago some of our volunteers pioneered inflatable rescue pontoons which give extra buoyancy to help with refloating. They’re amazing pieces of equipment that have saved hundreds of lives and are now being used by many organisations globally.
What do you see as the goals for the future?
My personal overarching goal is that every Kiwi knows what to do if they find a stranded whale or dolphin.
I’ve just come back from a knowledge sharing trip to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) centre in Cape Cod. They do what we’d like to do if we had an almost unlimited budget – they’ve got technology to help triage stranded mammals and have the ability to transport several dolphins at a time in an ambulance. While the ambulance is driving to a beach to release them, they can do CT scans and blood work.
Where do you get your funding from?
We are a charity and we exist thanks to donations from the public, businesses and grants from family trusts and organisations like IFAW. While we achieve so much, we always invite offers of help to progress our work further.
A lot of our time is spent fundraising and educating. We are a small and underfunded organisation but ultimately it is work with incredible value and you do get the chance to make a life-saving difference.
Story by Fiona Terry for the Spring 2024 issue of AA Directions Magazine. Fiona Terry is a freelance writer who regularly contributes to AA Directions Magazine.
Explore more from AA Directions magazine while you're here:
- Visit a lighthouse-inspired crib at remote Jacks Bay in The Catlins.
- Top tips for towing a trailer.
- Cruise from Hong Kong to Japan on an epic 14-night journey.
