Features
Westhaven (Whanganui Inlet) Wildlife Management Reserve
This reserve stretches over 2112 hectares. It covers all tidal sandflats and channels not included in the marine reserve, channels not included in the marine reserve, inside a line from Bar Point to South Head Cone.
Map of Westhaven - Te Tai Tapu
Marine Reserve
It protects the wildlife within its boundaries and the habitats and vegetation on which it depends. The wildlife management reserve allows for fishing and gamebird hunting.
Marine/inlet environment
Golden Bay and the South Island's northwest coast are renowned for their diverse and ancient landforms, endemic plants, abundant birdlife and outstanding natural and scenic coastal qualities.
Westhaven (Whanganui Inlet) is part of this natural wonder and one of the largest and least modified estuaries in the country. Much of its fringe is protected land and remains in dense natural forest cover. An uninterrupted sequence of plant life from forest to salt marsh helps maintain the estuary's overall health and supports a great richness of invertebrates (crabs, shellfish, worms) fish and birdlife.
About the inlet
The sea entrance to Westhaven is located 19 kilometres Southwest of Farewell Spit on the west coast of the South Island. The estuary is an enclosed, drowned river valley approximately 13 kilometres long and between 2-3 kilometres wide. As the tide enters the inlet it divides into northeast and Southwest channels before spilling out onto expansive intertidal flats, which dominate the estuary.
Much of the inlet is bordered by coastal forest including kahikatea, pukatea, rata, beech, rimu and nikau palm. Eelgrass beds, salt marshes, tidal wetlands, dunes, cliffs, islands, rock platforms and underwater reefs are all found at Westhaven and are important habitat to a variety of species.
Inanga amongst eelgrass
Approximately 30 species of marine fish use the inlet at some stage of their life history and it is an important breeding and nursery area for snapper, flatfish, kahawai and whitebait. Many fish enter the estuary to take advantage of the rich food supply found in the eelgrass beds and intertidal sandflats.
More species of invertebrate are known from this estuary than any other South Island estuary and it is the second most important tidal area in the Nelson/Marlborough region for wading birds including godwit, knot and oyster catcher. It is also the only site on the west coast of the South Island where the threatened banded rail finds a home.
The area has always been important to Maori, both as a food basket and as a place to live. Sacred sites and evidence of previous occupation remain today.
Westhaven Inlet has largely escaped permanent human impact common in many estuaries throughout the world, e.g. industry, pollution, urbanisation, reclamation. The coastal forest around the inlet has been clearfelled and selectively logged, the flax milled and the land mined for coal and gold. Despite these intrusions, there is little permanent ecological damage and most catchments are covered with regenerating forest.
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