Eco Tourism
As a marine conservation business sustained by tourism, we are clear in our purpose, of responsible and sustainable operations.
Working with people and showing them the natural world is perhaps the single most important thing we can do in conservation. .
We want to provide cruises that acknowledge and respect everyone in the community around us and contribute to making this an exceptional place for people to live, work and visit. -Tiaki– our duty of care for people and place.
Our Wildlife Promise:
We are committed to responsible and respectful marine mammal watching, here in the Bay of Islands,New Zealand and Worldwide.
We are passionate about our environment in which we live and work. Our goals are to preserve the environment, keeping our connections with marine wildlife and the community alive – Manaakitanga
The rules of wildlife encounters are respected and care is taken not to disturb marine wildlife or their habitats.
Our day cruises are carried out simply to contemplate the unique beauty of the Bay of Islands and the marine wildlife.
We were the first and only company to voluntarily stop swimming with Bottlenose dolphins and transition to dolphin watching.
We are also the only company in the Bay of Islands awarded responsible dolphin and whale watching operator by the WCA.
Today, dolphin watching is an important activity for the local community and is an important platform for scientific research on these amazing animals.
We are dedicated to advocating responsible marine wildlife watching in the Bay of Islands. Our crew provide training and accreditation for skippers and rangers and are active in the development of the Bay of Islands Marine Mammal Sanctuary.
We take our responsibilities to the environment, local communities, customers, partners and employees very seriously and constantly review our policies and strive to make improvements where we can.
How we try to minimise our impact on the environment:
- By providing space on our sailing boat for people to recycle
- By using biodegradable cleaning products and avoiding dumping of chemicals or non-natural products into the sea.
- By having everyone involved in our business promoting and doing responsible travel and encouraging our guests to embrace responsible travel principles.
- By asking all guests that waste should never be thrown into the sea
- By encouraging our guests to help us clean up any litter that they see in the water or on the beach.
- By avoiding wasting paper in the office and using the internet as the main form of communication.
- By using wind power as often as possible.
- By having natural ventilation on our boats instead of an air-conditioning system.
- By using a long-lasting antifouling which is less harmful to the environment.
- At sea we remove litter encountered in the water
- Any food left over is sorted to be reused (we donate dinners to local families) or composted
- By keeping up to date with developments and new products that appear in the industry that minimise negative impact on the environment.
How we support the local economy and community:
- By buying local/seasonal produce
- By regularly having a crew conservation day, of beach clean-up and snorkeling for debris in the bays.
- By providing cruises for local children to experience the marine environment and to become Kaitiaki
- By being a sponsor of Project Island song a local tree planting program
- By educating staff and guests and our local community about local environmental issues
- By collecting data on the marine wildlife on all out our cruises, to help make better management decisions
- By creating a marine mammal SAFE project with the view to minimising disturbance to marine wildlife
- By encouraging our guest to stay longer in the area and try local businesses
- Our recent partnership with Better Good, a local bottled water company in not plastic, completes the life cycle of water bottles. Our drinks are fair trade and organic.
Of course, tourism contributes to climate change. so we’ve added some tips to help you reduce the carbon impacts of your holidays.
- Choose your destination wisely
- Fly economy
- Fly direct
- Spend your money locally
- Make the effort to talk to locals
- Ask permission to take photographs
