The development of a new penguin viewing tourism venture on the reserve could see members of the public moved from the beach at least an hour before sundown, to clear the area for tourists willing to pay to see the penguins arrive at dusk.
At a resource consent hearing in Dunedin yesterday, the hearings committee - Allan Cubitt (chairman), David Benson-Pope and Cr Colin Weatherall - heard a proposal by the Blue Penguin Pukekura Trust, a joint venture between the Otago Peninsula Trust and Korako Karetai Trust, for guided tours at dusk to view penguins arriving at the beach.
Conservation Department coastal Otago community relations programme manager David Mules said tourism operators dropped up to 150 visitors at a time at the reserve, where they followed the penguins to their burrows.
Often, visitors' behaviour made the area "a shambles" for wildlife management and compromised penguin safety.
Volunteers did a good job, but the trust's proposal could "greatly improve" the situation.
"We see the status quo as being unsustainable."
Trust assisting planner Don Anderson said under the proposal, vehicle access would be restricted, and pedestrian access provided from near the Royal Albatross Colony visitor centre.
A four-level viewing platform would be built and the reserve car park re-vegetated, with emergency vehicle access only.
Peninsula trust trustee Annie Villiers said groups of up to 50 people would go down the path to the viewing platform, while the driveway gate could be opened for those unable to walk.
The council has already agreed to lease the area to the trust for the venture, subject to the result of the hearing.
Vehicle access to the reserve has been restricted for the past three months, since the reserve's administrator, the Dunedin City Council, allowed the Otago Peninsula Trust to build a predator-proof fence, with a gate across the access road.
The commissioners questioned how members of the public might react to being asked to leave a public beach.
Mr Anderson said while the trust had no jurisdiction over the beach, under the proposed lease "people will be trespassing" if they were on the reserve during the time it was closed.
Asked how the peninsula trust would deal with people unwilling to leave, general manager Robyn McDonald said staff would have to "appeal to their understanding". She accepted some would not be happy to leave.
The panel reserved its decision.
