Estimating the Economic Impact of Whale Song
Kapiti Coast District Council commissioned an independent report from leading NZ economics company Infometrics. This report was completed...
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You are standing right next to an inquisitive 8 metre long baby humpback whale. Its enormous 24 metre long mother is watching you.
Imagine...
The impossible has become possible
You are surrounded by a family of seven life-sized bronze sculpted humpback whales in pod formation, suspended over a one-acre site, centrally located on the Kāpiti Coast.
A 40-minute drive north of Wellington, Whale Song is the inspiration of local artist Mike Fuller.
Mike’s amazing sculpture depicts a family pod of humpback whales (known as the singing whales) which traverse our coast each year.
The mission of Whale Song is to...
• represent the connection of whales to mana whenua of Kāpiti and all iwi of New Zealand who followed the whales here on their journeys of discovery across the Pacific and on to Aotearoa
• promote messaging around care of our environment along with conservation and educational programmes (already under development with local schools)
• create a place where Kāpiti and New Zealand’s whaling past and whale stories can be shared, where Aotearoa’s earliest commercial exports took place (whale oil and flax fibre)
• boost tourism for the district, bringing higher value and longer staying tourists
Whale Song will be a significant international attraction for locals and visitors alike. It will provide a sense of place and identity for the region.
“Ka rongo o tātou hapū i a rātou waiata i a rātou e haere ana i waenganui o Kāpiti me Te Wai o Rongomai. Tae noa ki ngā puke o Paraparaumu, I rongo tonu mātou i ngā waiata o ngā Tohora.
Ko tēnei papa hou, me tōna Whakairo nunui, me tōna Wharenui i te tai o te awa Wharemauku, ka mohio ki nga hapū i noho ki konei. Ka akiakihia tātou ki te whakaora i te mauri o ō tātou moana, ō tātou ara wai me te ao taiao e tautokohia ana e rātou.”
“Long ago, the sea between Kāpiti Island and the beach at Raumati was abundant in whales with their song resonating all the way to the hills of Paraparaumu.
This new park, complete with its enormous 7 whales, and the Wharenui, the visible presence of the Hapū who belong here, sit on the banks of the Wharemauku Stream and urges us to restore the health of our ocean, the stream and the natural world.”
Takiri Cotterill, Puketapu Hapu Te Atiawa
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