Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage yesterday announced $8,132,783 in government grants to 168 community groups, including $532,180 to three Otago projects working to save the nationally endangered bird of the year.
''Hoiho [yellow-eyed penguins] live on both land and sea so they are vulnerable to a range of threats resulting in poor breeding and survival rates. This iconic species is in decline, have suffered a series of poor breeding seasons, and needs all the support it can get to boost hoiho numbers,'' she said.
Dunedin Wildlife Hospital Trust was granted $165,000 for hospital care for the birds, including emergency treatment for predator-inflicted injuries, trauma, diphtheria, malaria, starvation, and hand-rearing chicks at risk of disease or starvation.
Trust secretary Jordana Whyte said the wildlife hospital this year to date had treated 486 patients, 137 of which were yellow-eyed penguins.
''The fact that there are three groups in Otago who are getting money specifically for hoiho conservation is fantastic. It's been a long time coming and it is definitely clearly signalling people who have been jumping up and down, people who have been at the coal face for a lack of a better term, who have been jumping up and down for a long time saying we need more resources on the ground for this species - that's being taken seriously.
''And the timing is quite co-incidental with hoiho being named bird of the year, but it's brilliant timing. It's a very happy accident, because we do need to get public momentum and awareness around some of the challenges and threats, because so many of them are within our control. And we need people to understand we can actually make a difference - it's not a hopeless situation.''
Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust general manager Sue Murray said the $312,180 the trust received would be spread over three years to get more people on the ground to implement some of the steps in the first year of a new five-year recovery plan for the species that included more intensive management of the birds.
''We're not the only ones implementing the actions that are coming out of that new strategy, we are just one of the groups,'' she said.
''This will help us do our bit towards committing to the strategy.''
She endorsed Ms Sage's comments that ''more effort needs to be put into reducing marine threats with urgency''.
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu received $55,000 for a ''Katiki ranger'' to carry out management at Katiki Point, the largest hoiho colony and breeding ground for hoiho.
Mainland New Zealand yellow-eyed penguin nest numbers, estimated at just 225 last year, are believed to have dropped to 162 this year.
Some experts have begun predicting when the native birds will disappear from the coast of the South Island.
Doc's Community Fund was established in 2014 and in its first four years more than $25million has been awarded to 400 different conservation projects.
Department of Conservation Community Fund
168 conservation projects received $8,132,783, including.-
SOUTHERN SOUTH ISLAND
Wildlife Hospital Trust: $165,000, Hoiho/Yellow-eyed penguin veterinary care at Wildlife Hospital, Dunedin, including emergency treatment for predator-inflicted injuries, trauma, diphtheria, malaria and starvation and hand-rearing chicks at risk of disease or starvation.
Rakiura Maori Lands Trust: $156,600, systematic pest control on Stewart Island
Hollyford Conservation Trust -Te Roopu Manaaki o Whakatipu Waita: $133,000, monitoring and predator control operations to allow translocations of native species within a 2600ha project area in the Lower Hollyford Valley.
The Mohua Charitable Trust: $8530, reintroduction of several species of seabirds to Coal Island/Te Puka-Hereka in Fiordland by anchoring them to the island via sound systems.
The Mohua Charitable Trust: $24,705, translocation of South Island saddleback (tieke) to Coal Island/ Te Puka-Hereka in Preservation Inlet, Fiordland
Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau/Sinclair Wetlands Trust: $219,000, weed and pest control for the 315ha wetland
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu: $55,200, implement a reserve and wildlife management work programme, visitor management, ecological restoration and communicating cultural and wildlife values.
NATIONAL
Birds New Zealand: $131,040, New Zealand Bird Atlas Project co-ordination: a citizen science project recording the distribution and abundance of New Zealand birds.
Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust: $312,180, expanding conservation efforts to assist the survival of the species.
Main Trust NZ: $20,000, produce a whitebait database and monitoring kit for local community and school groups involved in spawning site surveys and river restoration work nationwide to support awareness of whitebait conservation needs.
