Marlborough goes off the whales
THE Marlborough Sounds, which once ran red with the blood of whales, is now being touted as a whale heritage site.
The Sounds was chosen as a candidate by the World Cetacean Alliance, the world’s largest partnership to protect whales which operates in 40 countries.
Three other sites in Australia, Canada and Brazil have been given candidate status.
Marlborough conservation organisation, Guardians of the Sounds, is building a replica of a 15-metre humpback whale as part of its aim to become a heritage site. Construction is due to begin in April.
Guardians of the Sounds chairman and whale watching company E-Ko Tours chief executive Paul Keating said the region’s whaling history meant it made sense to be a whale heritage site.
‘‘We have the only restored whaling station (Perano Station) in New Zealand, right next to the humpback whales migratory route,’’ Keating said.
‘‘This is also the closest place these humpbacks come to the mainland and can be viewed from land and have been during the 10 year Cook Strait whale survey.’’
The Marlborough District Council supported the project to become a whale heritage site, and gave a site next to the Picton Library to build the $50,000 replica, which will be funded by private donors.
Allan Buckland, a grandson of a Tory Channel whaler, believed it was a ‘‘great idea’’ to make the region a whale heritage site.
‘‘It’s part of the history of the Sounds really.’’