Whale Watch Kaikōura

Whale Watch Kaikōura is an ecotourism company based in Kaikōura, a small town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The company offers marine wildlife tours focussing on sperm whales and other cetaceans, using vessels operating from the marina at South Bay. The company was originally established as Kaikoura Tours, and was formed by members of the Ngāti Kuri hapū, a sub-tribe of the South Island based Māori iwiNgāi Tahu. It offered its first whale watching tours in July 1989. By 2009, the company was taking between 90,000 and 100,000 people a year on whale-watching trips, and the business was the largest employer in Kaikōura with over 70 staff during the peak season.

A case involving Whale Watch Kaikōura and the issue of permits for whale watching was heard by the New Zealand Court of Appeal in 1995. The court decision, known as "The Whales Case", has subsequently been referenced in other litigation involving the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Since 1990, Whale Watch Kaikōura has been the only ecotourism operator with permits for whale watching from a vessel off Kaikōura. The business has been owned and operated by Ngāti Kuri since its establishment in 1989, and has won multiple national and international awards.