Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou is urging people to alert authorities if they see injured, entangled, or harassed sea lions (pakake).
Rūnanga chairwoman Nadia Wesley-Smith issued a statement today after the Otago Daily Times reported visitors at Dunedin's Sandfly Bay were seen approaching a sea lion and throwing sand at it for the sake of a photograph.
"Pakake are a taoka species for Ōtākou," she said. "We hold ourselves accountable to the responsibilities of kaitiakitaka, of managing the interactions between us for ongoing care of the species.
"It’s disappointing to hear of people not interacting with pakake responsibly and giving them the space they need.
"We call for people to be responsible around wildlife in coastal areas."
Ms Wesley-Smith said last season was a record season for pakake pups, which meant they would continue to be more commonly seen on nearby beaches.
"This is great news, but we will need to learn to share our spaces with them and keep them, and ourselves, safe."
She urged people to call the Department of Conservation (Doc) emergency hotline 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468) if they saw a sea lion pakake that was: severely injured, entangled in marine debris or being harassed by people or dogs.
Doc Coastal Otago operations manager Gabriel Davies said the ODT made Doc aware of the incident at Sandfly Bay yesterday, where people were observed and photographed by a member of the public, getting very close to a sea lion and allegedly throwing sand to capture its attention.
"We urge people to respect our wildlife by giving them plenty of space.
"Wildlife can be unpredictable, and people put themselves at risk of injury by getting too close."
Yesterday, a Dunedin man said he was "furious" after watching visitors to Dunedin’s Sandfly Bay go as far as throwing sand at a sea lion to provoke it for the sake of a snapshot.
Dunedin procurement manager Viral Rawal said on Saturday afternoon he and a friend visited the well-known Otago Peninsula wildlife hotspot and observed three people, whom he believed to be overseas tourists, disturbing one of three threatened New Zealand sea lions at the beach.
Two women and a man were attempting to wake a sea lion from its slumber for a photograph, Mr Rawal said.
One member of the group, who were all speaking a foreign language, got as close as 1m to the sea lion.
At one point, one group member picked up sand and threw it at the animal to rouse it.
Although he did not take it upon himself to intervene, and the animal did little to respond to the antagonism, Mr Rawal said he felt "furious" and "quite disappointed" by the people’s behaviour.
"They [sea lions] should be left on their own," Mr Rawal said.
Department of Conservation (Doc) coastal Otago biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said the photographs Mr Rawal provided showed "definitely inappropriate" behaviour that represented an offence under the Marine Mammals Protection Act.
He said Doc’s compliance team would be keen to learn more about the behaviour observed, such as throwing sand, or information about the people involved.
Mr Fyfe urged people to contact Doc (0800 DOC HOT) if they witnessed poor behaviour.
Meanwhile, about 11pm on Sunday, police were called to a report of a missing man, who was separated from the group he was with by a territorial sea lion at nearby Victory Beach.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said police were called after a sea lion caused a group of beach-goers to run and separate.
The beach-goers were on a moonlit stroll along a track near the beach when they stumbled across the animal and what they believed was her pup.
Everyone scattered and a married couple made it back to their vehicle.
However, after waiting a while, a member of their party had not emerged from the track.
The couple drove to an area with cellphone service and called the police at 11.05pm, Snr Sgt Bond said.
While police were on their way, the man found his way back and police were stood down.
There were no injuries or any sea lion attacks reported.
