Whales stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay. Photo: Supplied / Project Jonah
One of a group of 11 whales stranded in Golden Bay has died, but the remaining ten have been re-floated, according to the Department of Conservation.
Volunteers, Department of Conservation (DOC) staff, Project Jonah members and mana whenua have spent the day trying to keep the pod alive, which initially stranded near Taupata Point early on Monday morning.
DOC Golden Bay acting operations manager Andrew Lamason said crews would continue to monitor the whales in the water and would respond if they restranded.
"Currently there are no live whales on the beach, and although we are hopeful, we suspect that the current refloat may not be successful if it follows the pattern of the previous days," he said.
Whales stranded near Pakawau, South Island on Sunday. Photo: Project Jonah
Lamason said crews were hopeful the whales would survive but anticipated some dead whales might turn up along the coast.
"We are asking people to be respectful around these deceased whales and to avoid contact with them," he said.
"Dog walkers should be particularly cautious about exercising their dogs off leash as some pathogens in whales can be dangerous to dogs.
"We've endeavoured to secure as many dead whales as possible and typically move them on to Farewell Spit, where we can easily manage them.
"However, we won't be able to recover all dead whales due to remote locations and difficult access or when whales have subsequently passed away out at sea."
A separate pod of about 30 stranded pilot whales, which was stranded on the sand and closer to a channel, were able to refloat themselves on the high tide overnight.
Project Jonah received reports of the 30 pilot whales coming ashore around 7pm on Saturday.
One whale was euthanised and two others died.
"There has still been no sign of the original larger pod, which we hope they are all doing well further offshore," Lamason said.
The stranding is the third in the area since early December.
In the first week of January, eight of the ten whales that were stranded were successfully refloated, while around 13 died from a larger group that stranded in early December.
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