New Zealand Bill Gives Whales Legal Rights as Persons

Whales could soon have legal rights just like corporations do, thanks to a bold new bill introduced in New Zealand's Parliament this month.

The legislation would recognize whales as legal persons with specific rights: the freedom to migrate, the ability to maintain their natural behaviors and culture, and the right to live in healthy ocean environments. It would require the government to protect these rights when making decisions about shipping, fishing, deep-sea mining, and coastal development.

The bill grew from an Indigenous treaty called He Whakaputanga Moana, or Declaration for the Ocean. Pacific Indigenous leaders signed it with the support of Māori King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, who passed away in 2024.

Green Party member of Parliament Teanau Tuiono, who is Māori, introduced the legislation. Shortly before his death, the king met with Green Party lawmakers and asked them to help turn the treaty into law. "This is about honoring his legacy," Tuiono said.

Legal experts say it's rare for a treaty created by Indigenous nations to shape national law. The approach flips the usual top-down environmental governance on its head.

The bill represents a new way of thinking about nature. Instead of treating the ocean and its creatures as resources to exploit, it views them as kin deserving protection and respect. This philosophy comes from Indigenous cultures that have always seen humans as part of nature, not separate from it.

The Ripple Effect

The New Zealand bill is just the beginning. The Hinemoana Halo Partnership Fund, an Indigenous-led conservation group that helped create the original declaration, has spent the past year figuring out how to implement it across multiple Pacific countries.

Co-chair Lisa Tumahai emphasized that the treaty was never meant to be symbolic. "It was always about implementation," she said.

This month, Hinemoana Halo announced partnerships with legal experts from New York University's More-Than-Human Life Program and scientists from the Cetacean Translation Initiative. These groups are working together to advance whale protections based on emerging research about whale communication and intelligence.

The collaboration keeps Indigenous leadership at its center. César Rodríguez-Garavito, founding director of the More-Than-Human Life Program, explained that the declaration's strength comes from its grounding in Indigenous values like reciprocity, responsibility, and ancestral relationships with ocean beings.

With law, science, and Indigenous wisdom working together, the movement to protect whales is gaining momentum across the Pacific and could inspire similar efforts worldwide.