North Head penguin colony accidentally cleared by restaurant

• September 11 2016

• James Robertson

A colony of endangered Little Penguins, the last on the NSW mainland, have had parts of their critical nesting grounds allegedly cleared during building works at a restaurant, the state opposition claims.

The breach is alleged to have taken place despite repeated recent efforts to save the penguins at a cost from wild fox attacks at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars, including a network of cameras and snipers.

Little penguins at Manly Sea Life Sanctuary in Manly. Photo: Janie Barrett

Labor alleged that vegetation covering 60 metres of "critical habitat zone" in a NSW national park at North Head was denuded after the Boilerhouse restaurant strayed over the boundaries of its licence during land clearing late last year.

The environment department confirmed last week that a special investigations team by the state's national parks service had not found enough evidence to bring any action against the restaurant.
"They have determined that there was a lack of clear evidence to pursue the matters through the courts," said the CEO of the Department of the Environment, Terry Bailey.

The department later confirmed it had replanted areas behind the restaurant "to protect the Little penguins" and said future works on the site would require written permission.

Labor is accusing the government of inaction.

"It beggars belief that critical habitat for our only mainland penguin colony could be cleared and no action taken by [the state government] against the those who were responsible," said Labor's environment spokeswoman, Penny Sharpe. "The minister needs to … ensure that commercial lessees in National Parks are not violating their licence conditions. Our endangered wildlife depends on it."
The incident happened last December. Ms Sharpe is questioning whether the work would have crushed any penguin eggs.

But the department said on Friday its investigation found penguins in the vicinity were not affected and says the area was mostly covered in weeds.

Fairfax contacted a director of Mawland Group, the restaurant's owner, for comment on Saturday.  A restaurant manager said he was unaware of the incident.

The state government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on special operations to protect the penguins in recent years, including sending in snipers, penguin coroners and DNA test after wild foxes killed tens of penguins in sprees over several years.

"[We have] worked with the lessee to re-plant the area with native plants to protect the Little Penguins," a spokesman for the environment department said.

Environment Minister Mark Speakman said he was "disappointed" by the incident and had asked the department to be "extra vigilant".

There are about 150 penguins on the colony. It started with 35 in 1990.

The private operator which owns the restaurant, Mawland, was handed control of the quarantine station in a controversial leasing decision more than a decade ago and has prompted repeated warnings from locals about the coexistence of the restaurant and the conservation colony.

Mawland has applied for a raft of variations to its planning controls, including playing music in an outdoor area metres away from penguin nests, boosting visitor numbers and carrying out environmental audits less frequently.

 source