How is koro apirana an old whale stranded in the alien present?

This quote explicity establishes the comparison between Koro and the old whale. This comparison is an important motif of the book, and it is the stepping stone for drawing the symbolic connection between the wandering whale herd and the Maori people of Whangara. Their stories run along parallel lines, and each side sheds some light on the other.

"Our Koro was like an old whale stranded in an alien present, but that was how it was supposed to be, because he also had his role in the pattern of things, in the tides of the future”