The Marlborough Sounds could be the world’s first registered Wildlife Heritage Area by the end of the year.

The status, if approved, could lead to greater protection for the many endangered species that call the waters, hills and bush of the Sounds home, while at the same time encouraging more eco-tourism to the area.

Designated Wildlife Heritage Areas are a classification launched this year by World Animal Protection and the World Cetacean Alliance, to identify outstanding wildlife-watching destinations where local people play a central role in protecting their natural heritage.

Captain Paul Keating, the manager of Picton’s World Cetacean Alliance office, which opened in June, and owner of conservationist tour company E-Ko Tours, said he was finalising an application for the Sounds to become the first Wildlife Heritage Area, and hoped the designation would be in place this summer.

“We’ll have it all ready by the end of the month and will probably get the approval within 60 to 90 days, so by the end of the year we should be the first Wildlife Heritage Area in the world,” he said.

Keating said there were 51 endangered species currently living in and around the Marlborough Sounds, and would be focusing on six of the most endangered species for the Wildlife Heritage Area project.

“We’ve got orca, bottlenose dolphins, and hector’s dolphins in the sea, and then on land we’ve got tuatara, rowi kiwi and the king shag, or kawau pāteketeke, that’s endemic to the Marlborough Sounds and there’s only 700 or so in the world,” he said.

“(They) are the taonga we need to focus on, they all have strong cultural, environmental, community and economic value to our region.

“Our community currently supports them, and we have had some great success stories, but how we can help them is by telling the world (about them).”

The Wildlife Heritage Network was a global programme that connected specialist non-governmental organisations (NGOs), wildlife experts, responsible travel companies, and local communities, to support Wildlife Heritage Areas.

Keating said the Marlborough Sounds Wildlife Heritage Area would be run in partnership with major top of the south conservation project Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance, which brought together three Government departments, nine iwi, six councils, and its global non-profit partner the Nature Conservancy, to work collectively to restore the area’s biodiversity and natural landscapes.

Protecting endangered species in the Marlborough Sounds would benefit the community in a myriad of ways, not least by encouraging overseas investment into the region’s conservation causes, he said.

“The Nature Conservancy are massive, and we’ve got WAP (World Animal Protection), which are two big global organisations, and then you’ve got World Cetacean Alliance, so now we’ve got some major players putting focus on the Marlborough Sounds,” he said.

“We can clearly display to funders overseas that it’s not just talk – we’ve been doing this for the past 20 years.

“All we have to do is support the project, and our taonga and community will be revered around the world, we will become one of the top places on the planet to see environmental conservation in action – with a Wildlife Heritage Area designation,” he said.

Keating said his work towards making the Marlborough Sounds a Whale Heritage Site in previous years had been scrapped in favour of the Wildlife Heritage Area designation, as it would focus on preserving the habitat for all species.

“That better suits our kaupapa, because here in New Zealand we’re more about preserving the entirety of the system rather than focusing on one animal,” he said.

“If you focus on one animal, it’s not good in the long-term. If you focus on the whole area and saving the habitat, you’ll save a lot more animals.”

As a gateway for the Marlborough Sounds, Keating said the new Wildlife Heritage Area status would help the small town of Picton make a big splash on the world stage.

”We want to make Picton the conservation capital of New Zealand,” he said.