Hundreds of whales wash up dead on New Zealand beach

Probably chased onto shore by Sea Shepard, and then they will blame the Japanese.

Can the dead ones be sent to Japan for "scientific" reasons, then no need to go hunting for live ones?

Very often whale beaching's - and in particular to recent NZ history - precede earthquakes. So hope this is not the case again as NZ has been hit by multiple earthquakes over the last few years.

Why isn't the Sea Shepherd's armada there to help... Not enough notoriety and faux-documentary drama money contracts in helping whales if the Japanese are not involved? No one to denigrate or throw rotten butter at on prime time? A sad thing to see these whales meeting this fate.

Must be a bit depressing if you are a Sea Shepherd poseur and this happens. 412 wasted TV episodes. Nature is indeed not always kind. and agree hope this doesn't presage a big quake.

Yep, where are the Sea Shepherd? The certainly have the money and the resources to build up a watching post and an emergency reaction team in places where whales are prone to beaching... Ah, I see, this does not make for good television. It does not offer the chance to pose as heroes in order to get the budget for the next season of TV shows?..

in the answer to where is sea shepherd is why are not the research whalers there doing what they are good at research and recovery for perfume.

You people complaining about Sea Shepherd, try this concept out. Strandings are natural events, mechanical slaughters aren't. Kind of like most people dying by naturally and some getting murdered. Do you all call out the cops for not doing their jobs when people die of cancer? There is no connection between strandings and earthquakes. Any major Earthquakes in NZ in 1910? Any major strandings in 2011 or last November?

What I'm thinking, without a shred of understanding about the local geography, is that during WWII there were extensive submarine nets laid in many locarions - and if this seems to be a recurring phenomen, would something similar solve the issue? Perhaps this has already been explored and discarded.

and if this seems to be a recurring phenomen, would something similar solve the issue?

It doesn't need to be solved. It's a naturally occurring event that has been happening for millenniums. Yes we think it's sad but nature has it's own way of controlling populations. If we do, that what are the sharks crabs and sea lice supposed to eat? FYI Golden Bay is 50kms across. The spit is very long and a great natural snare. Quite impressive. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Farewell_Spit.jpg

Strandings are natural events, mechanical slaughters aren't.

You're funny. Some of the whales were still young and saving them would have helped the population in a more ecological and cost efficient way than chasing the Japanese through the Antarctic. Nobody would watch the show, though, they'll have to stick to crab fishing and plane crashing shows...