A sense of both growing threats and increased efforts to save the animals were to the fore at the latest annual symposium of the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust, at the University of Otago campus on Saturday.
The Government, Ngai Tahu and the trust have rallied round to support them.
In an early talk, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage pointed out that the yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, was a "species unique to New Zealand, that grace our $5 notes".
"Because hoiho occupy both land and sea, they're exposed to an extensive range of threats, resulting in poor breeding and survival rates," she said.
In the 2018-19 breeding season, the numbers of breeding pairs in the "northern" hoiho populations of mainland New Zealand, Rakiura/Stewart Island and Whenua Hou/Codfish Island were the lowest since 1990.
The season had started with only about 227 nests.
Ms Sage also announced Te Kaweka Takohaka mo te Hoiho/Yellow-eyed Penguin Recovery Strategy, and Te Mahere Rima Tau - a five-year hoiho action plan, to support the strategy.
The draft strategy aims to restore hoiho populations faced with pressures from human activities, climate change and predators.
A further $220,000 over three years from Budget 2018 would also go to support conservation management of hoiho, she said.
Trust general manager Sue Murray acknowledged the seriousness of the threats, but also pointed out that this was the first time in the symposium's roughly 30-year history that a government minister had spoken at it.
The more than 90 participants also amounted to the largest and most diverse group attending the symposium, and she was delighted with the collaborative approach, she said.
Penguin Place rehabilitation manager Megan Abbott said no chicks had survived to fledge at any of the three Otago Peninsula beaches that Penguin Place had immediate oversight of in the past breeding season.
Nevertheless, a record 304 birds had been rehabilitated at Penguin Place - in a high proportion of cases successfully.
Elaine Burgess, a volunteer and trust member at Penguin Rescue, Katiki Point, said yellow-eyed penguins still faced a "crisis" in terms of survival.
A total of 17% of a group of breeding penguins in the area had died of avian malaria, and tourists were also getting too close and stressing birds.
