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West Coast hapū Ngāti Waewae is recovering the jawbone of a 15 metre sperm whale washed up halfway between Greymouth and Hokitika.
It's one of three dead whales washed up on the coast in the past few days.
A Cuvier's beaked whale has washed up at Greymouth, and yesterday a small whale or dolphin of unknown species washed up near Westport.
Marine Scientist Don Neale from the Department of Conservation’s Hokitika office says it was unlikely the deaths were directly connected, but the storms that lashed the coast last week may have contributed to their deaths.
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