Snells Beach local Steve Hathaway is calling for reports on any orca sightings.

For him to film for an international documentary on orcas over the next month or two, he needs locals to keep an eye out to help find them. If you see or hear of any orcas from Northland down to Tauranga, please call 0800 FILM UW (0800 3456 89) as soon as you can.

The team and the boat are ready and waiting to go as soon as they get a call. Orcas have been spotted around Kawau Bay, Omaha, and Leigh areas over the last few days, so if you are in any of these areas, please keep an eye out.

Underwater cameraman and storyteller Steve Hathaway is a marine enthusiast who has supplied footage for documentaries on BBC, TVNZ, National Geographic and Discovery TV, and won a BAFTA with the camera crew of the One Ocean episode of Blue Planet 2. 

On their last shoot, the team rescued an orca that was tangled in a cray pot line and are looking forward to what they'll encounter and film this time.

Steve and his daughter Riley developed Young Ocean Explorers, the free-access website intended to inspire children and adults to care for the ocean – and act to protect the ocean. Steve’s mission is to inspire people to practise kaitiakitanga over the marine world, and to turn that sense of guardianship into action.