West Coast Region

The West Coast (Māori: Te Tai Poutini, lit. 'The Coast of Poutini, the Taniwha') is a region of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island. It is administered by the West Coast Regional Council, and is known co-officially as Te Tai Poutini. It comprises the territorial authorities of Buller District, Grey District and Westland District. The principal towns are Westport, Greymouth and Hokitika. The region, one of the more remote areas of the country, is also the most sparsely populated. With a population of just 32,900 people, the West Coast is the least populous region in New Zealand. The population in the region grew by 0.4% over the year to July 2023.

West Coast Te Tai Poutini
Region
West Coast Region in New Zealand
Coordinates: 42°36′S 171°24′E / 42.6°S 171.4°E / -42.6; 171.4
Country	New Zealand
Island	South Island
Seat	Greymouth
Constituent territorial authorities	List Buller District Grey District Westland District
Government
• Type	Regional council
• Body	West Coast Regional Council
• Chair	Colin Smith
• Deputy chair	Mark McIntyre
Area
• Land	23,245.52 km² (8,975.15 sq mi)
Population (June 2025)
• Total	34,700
• Density	1.49/km² (3.87/sq mi)
GDP
• Total	NZ$ 2.101 billion (2021) (15th)
• Per capita	NZ$ 64,063 (2021)
HDI (2023)	0.918 very high · 12th
Website	westcoast.co.nz

The region has a rich and important history. The land itself is ancient, stretching back to the Carboniferous period; this is evident by the amount of carboniferous materials naturally found there, especially coal. First settled by Kāi Tahu in approximately 1200 AD, the area was famous across New Zealand for its richness in pounamu greenstone. Kāi Tahu traded millions of modern New Zealand dollars' worth of the stone across New Zealand, making Te Tai Poutini one of the wealthiest regions in the country.

After the arrival of Europeans, the region became famed for its vast and mostly untapped gold reserves, which historically had not been highly valued. The region was subsequently settled by thousands of Irish Catholics after the Irish Famine, who constitute the majority of the population, alongside the indigenous Kāi Tahu and those who come from admixing between the two populations. The West Coast is the only region of New Zealand where coal mining is still widely practiced.

Naming

The name Westland is used by some New Zealanders to refer to the whole of the West Coast, including Grey District, Buller District and Fiordland,^{[citation needed]} and can also refer to the short-lived Westland Province of 1873–76.

Fiordland is on the west coast, but is in the Southland Region rather than the West Coast Region.

Inhabitants of the West Coast are colloquially known as "Coasters".

Geography

The region reaches from Kahurangi Point in the north to Awarua Point in the south, a distance of 600 kilometres (370 miles). It has an area of 23,246 km². To the west is the Tasman Sea (which like the Southern Ocean can be very rough, with four-metre swells common), and to the east are the Southern Alps. Much of the land is rugged, with a coastal plain where much of the population resides. It is divided into the three local government districts of (from north to south) Buller, Grey and Westland.

The land has wild coastlines, mountains and a very high proportion of native bush, much of it native temperate rain forest. It is the only part of New Zealand where significant tracts of lowland forest remain: elsewhere, for instance on the Canterbury Plains and in the Firth of Thames, they have been almost completely destroyed for settlement and agriculture.

Scenic areas include the Haast Pass, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Hokitika Gorge, Lake Brunner, the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki, the Oparara Arches and the Heaphy Track.

The region has very high rainfall due to the prevailing northwesterly wind pattern and the location of the Southern Alps, which give rise to heavy orographic precipitation. The rain shadow effect is responsible for the relatively arid climate of the Canterbury Plains on the other side of the Southern Alps.

Blackball
Carters Beach
Fox Glacier
Granity
Haast
Hari Hari
Kaniere
Kumara
Ngakawau
Ross
Waimangaroa

Greymouth
Hokitika
Westport
Reefton

Regional council

The West Coast Region is governed by the West Coast Regional Council. Currently, it is chaired by Colin Smith, with Mark McIntyre his deputy.

Councillors

^{[needs update]}

Brett Cummings
Allan Birchfield
Andy Campbell
Chris Coll
Mark McIntyre
Peter Ewen

Economy

The subnational gross domestic product (GDP) of the West Coast was estimated at NZ$2,373 million in the year to March 2022, 0.7% of New Zealand's national GDP. The regional GDP per capita was estimated at $72,127 in the same period.

The region had one of the strongest growing regional economies of New Zealand in 2022, though from a rather small base.

Industries include mining for coal and alluvial gold, forestry and wood processing, fishing (including whitebaiting), tourism and farming.

Dairy farming has grown strongly – the local dairy co-operative Westland Milk Products remained independent when most others merged to form Fonterra in 2001. In the 2019–2020 season, there were 150,000 milking cows on the West Coast, 3.0% of the country's total herd. The cows produced 50,700 tonnes of milk solids, worth $365 million at the national average farmgate price ($7.20 per kg).

Other industries are the manufacturing and sales of greenstone jewellery, sphagnum moss gathering and stone-collection for garden landscaping. Monteith's brewery is in Greymouth.

The region has been included in the "Top 10 Coastal Drives of the World" by Lonely Planet.

Flora and fauna

The region has the only New Zealand nesting place of the kōtuku (white heron), at the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve, visited by tours from the small farming township of Whataroa. This rare bird appears on the $2 coin.

The region is recorded as having over 175 taxa of marine algal flora from historic and recent collections in the region. Significant features of the region's algal flora are hard to discern on the basis of existing knowledge, but include the virtual absence of some common New Zealand species, and extensions to the known distribution of others.

Over 80% of West Coast land is administered by the Department of Conservation, much of this being in National Parks. These include from north to south, parts of Kahurangi NP, Paparoa NP, parts of Arthurs Pass NP, Westland NP, parts of Aspiring NP plus the South Westland World Heritage Area. Each of these parks have flora and fauna common to all areas, as well as species, like kiwi, particular to those areas.

Transport

Four roads run into the West Coast Region. The main road running the length of the region is State Highway 6. It connects to the Tasman District in the north through the Buller Gorge, and to Otago in the south via Haast Pass. Two roads connect to Canterbury to the east, State Highway 7 through Lewis Pass to North Canterbury and State Highway 73 via Arthur's Pass to Christchurch.

The Midland railway line is the only railway line into the region. It links to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. The TranzAlpine train service runs return between Christchurch and Greymouth daily and freight lines extend to Ngākawau and Hokitika.

Daily passenger flights operate into the region. Air New Zealand flies between Christchurch and Hokitika and Sounds Air between Wellington and Westport.