An attempt earlier this year to control the geese population by shooting them resulted in complaints to police. Since then, community groups have been looking at alternative ways of controlling numbers.
Hawkesbury Lagoon Committee chairwoman Shirley McKewen said the geese population had increased over the past few years and the ''mess'' from their defecations was creating issues.
''On the golf course, it's particularly the mess they make on the greens,'' Ms McKewen said.
After the shooting programme in autumn caused a ''stir'' in the community, the committee offered the expertise of some of its members to help find alternative methods to control the geese population.
''We are not going to get rid of them, but we need to just manage the numbers, because they also frighten any native birds that we are trying to attract on to the lagoon.''
The options the committee, the Waikouaiti Racing Club and Waikouaiti Golf Club came up with included harassing the geese to make them uncomfortable in their habitat and conducting an egg-pricking programme.
A local, who did not want to be named, said she complained to police about the shooting on the grounds it was dangerous to people who lived nearby and cruel to the birds.
''The person who was shooting wasn't shooting very accurately and was injuring them,'' she said.
She would prefer the birds were left alone, but felt the alternative methods for controlling numbers were ''100% better'' than shooting them.
Waikouaiti Racing Club president Jim Lawson said shooting had been used as a method of control, with approval from police, on both the race and golf courses for many years.
Mr Lawson had no problem with shooting the birds, saying it was comparable to shooting other pests, such as rabbits and possums. He disputed claims the shooter was inaccurate and injuring birds.
However, in the face of complaints, from one woman in particular, the racing club and the golf club decided to try other methods, he said.
There was the potential for geese, apart from fouling and eating grass on the racecourse, to spook horses trained there.
The issue was discussed at the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board, which voted for council staff to report back on the geese's potential effects on the environment and whether they were considered pests - and if they were, what control options were appropriate.
