By Hamish MacLean on Sun, 5 Jun 2016
Katiki Point, just south of Moeraki, is under pressure as
tourists, including freedom campers, damage the environment
and disrupt the penguins' breeding cycles. Reporter Hamish
MacLean investigates.
Mainland New Zealand's largest yellow-eyed penguin colony is
in "dire'' need of protection from crowds of tourists, and a
tourism operation at Katiki Point could be the solution.
Penguin Rescue manager Rosalie Goldsworthy said the birds at
Katiki Point, near Moeraki, had a poor breeding season last
year and were under increasing pressure from tourists.
Controlling visitors was a key to their survival, she said. "People are visiting here in hordes. Saving the species from extinction on the mainland is going
to take resources. And one obvious way to resource it is by
having a tourist destination here as long as it has the dual
purpose of providing an experience for the tourist and
protecting the penguins from the onslaught of uncontrolled
tourism.''
Starting with two breeding pairs at Katiki Point in 1991,
Penguin Rescue had improved the habitat and the health of the
population significantly. Two years ago the penguin population reached a high of 34
breeding pairs at the North Otago colony.
Mrs Goldsworthy said Katiki Point was under the same pressure
as many of New Zealand's scenic areas. Tourists, including freedom campers, were damaging the
environment - and inadvertently killing penguins.
The yellow-eyed penguin population at mainland New Zealand’s largest
yellow-eyed penguin colony has dropped to about 70 birds this year.
Photos by ODT.
The number of breeding pairs dropped to 25. "Tourists are not bad people but they have come all the way
from the States or from Germany and there's only a couple of
metres separating them from the penguins: forget the zoom on
the camera, they want to get close and it's killing
[penguins]. It needs to happen. It needs to happen before August or the
next breeding cycle will be disrupted,'' Mrs Goldsworthy
said. "We can't afford another season like the last one.''
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher agreed that a tourism operation
could benefit the birds.
He said Penguin Rescue had made "a huge effort . . . over
many years'' but as the number of birds grew, so did tourist
numbers. "They've done a really good job, but the casual tourism that
is growing there ... and there's very little control of the
people going there and that's threatening the penguins
themselves, their habitat. That's an issue that needs to be
dealt with,'' Mr Kircher said.
A tourism operation would bring "sustainability in a number
of ways''.
"Fundamentally it helps to control the impact of tourism and
it actually provides the financial sustainability around
looking after the penguins.'' He pointed to the commercial and environmental success of the
Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony run by Tourism Waitaki.
Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony marine biologist Philippa Agnew
said she would support "regulated tourism'' to protect the
birds. "The science is pretty supportive of the fact that regulated
tourism is better for wildlife than unregulated tourism -
there's a lot of research to show that. So, definitely.''
Katiki Point is largely Ngai Tahu land under the customary
care of Te Runanga o Moeraki with about 2ha of public
conservation land managed by the Department of Conservation.
Upoko Runaka o Moeraki David Higgins said managing the
tourist numbers had been difficult at Katiki Point, but his
concern was really the preservation of Te Raka a Hineatea Pa
site where some of the penguins had established nests.
The runanga's immediate goal was for planting and the
creation of footpaths to mitigate the damage the crowds were
doing at the historic pa at Katiki Point, "redirecting foot
traffic so that they don't stomp all over those sacred
places''.
"It's really difficult, but most of the tourists don't want
to go and see a pa site; most of the tourists want to go and
see a penguin. The best way to redirect tourists, of course, is either
planting trees or putting up fences, not necessarily in that
order.'' He said the runanga had a team looking at "all the
possibilities'' with Doc. "Carefully looking at possibilities down there at the moment
- and not just commercial possibilities - all the
possibilities that may exist.
The runanga had been in discussion with the council and Doc
about toilet facilities over "a range of areas'' including
the Moeraki boulders reserve. "Not unlike the council we are very concerned about human
waste and that sort of material being left in different
areas,'' he said.
Doc Coastal Otago district senior ranger community Micheal
Morrison pointed to a joint Waitaki District Council annual
plan submission by Doc, Te Runanga o Moeraki and Te Runanga o
Ngai Tahu. The submission indicated comprehensive archaeological,
botanical and visitor surveys were under way.
Signage, a rerouting of the entrance track, the maintenance
of walking tracks and installing a waharoa (entrance way)
were goals for the three partners. The submission also called for a lockable gate on Lighthouse
Rd on the way to the Katiki Point car park and a new public
toilet facility at the car park.
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