Sounds in line for whale accolade

Region’s history and conservation intitiatives help win accolade, writes Anan Zaki.

The Marlborough Sounds, which once ran red with the blood of whales, is now being touted as a a whale heritage site.

The Sounds was chosen as a candidate by the World Cetacean Alliance, an initiative looking to protect whales.

Three other sites, in Australia, Canada and Brazil, have been given candidate status.

As part of the project the Marlborough conservation organisation Guardians of the Sounds, is building a replica of a 15-metre humpback whale. 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 replica whale would be visible to arrivals on the ferry.

The region’s whaling history meant a whale heritage site made sense, he said.

‘‘We have the only restored whaling station (Perano Station) in New Zealand, right next to the humpback whales migratory route.

‘‘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 effort to win whale heritage status, and provided a site next to the Picton Library for the replica.

The cost of the project is estimated at $50,000 and it would be funded by E-Ko Tours and other private donors.

Allan Buckland, a grandson of a Tory Channel whaler, believed making the region a whale heritage site was a ‘‘great idea’’.

‘‘It’s part of the history Sounds really.’’

Alliance chief executive Dylan Walker said it was a ‘‘little bit like world heritage sites, but for whales’’.

Marlborough’s whaling history was an important element in the process, he said.

"It's where people benefit from whales, socially and economically and want to do more to take pride in them." World Cetacean Alliance chief executive Dylan Walker

of the

‘‘Hunting the animals, we actually feel is an important thing for people,’’ Walker said.

‘‘We learned a lot about whales from whaling. It’s obviously not a good thing anymore, but it’s important to hold on to the knowledge that we gained from those activities, one being we don’t want to get back to doing them again.’’

The Marlborough Sounds had a ‘‘lot of potential’’ because of the combination of responsible whalewatching tourism and the historical aspects, Walker said.

The Whale Heritage Site programme has been running for two years. The heritage sites would be places where the human population had a ‘‘respectful relationship’’ with the ocean giants.

‘‘It’s where no one’s going out hunting the animals or catching them for entertainment in captive facilities.

‘‘It’s where people benefit from whales, socially and economically and want to do more to take pride in them and want to do more to educate people about them and work towards a more environmentally friendly way of living to help protect them.’’

Each heritage site needed to meet a number of criteria judged by an independent panel before the status was awarded.

‘‘One is around responsible tourism, one is around sustainability, one is around celebrating the animals saved and what research and education outreach they’re carrying at the site.’’