Jim Caldwell said he wanted assurances from Tourism Waitaki and the Waitaki District Council that the crowds of up to 100 people on Oamaru's breakwater at dusk this summer - viewing penguins coming ashore without paying entry to the tourism operation - would not be used as a reason to block access to the breakwater and the beach, known in his childhood as either Wee Beach or Surf Bay.
Mr Caldwell (78) successfully lobbied the council late last year for the gates to access the beach remain unlocked.
''I think they are going to push, push, push to get that gate shut, so that you and I can't get on to that beach,'' he said yesterday. ''And I am going to fight like mad to stop that.''
Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill said this week the crowd of up to 100 people gathering on the breakwater at night was a safety issue and could disturb the birds.
Mr Gaskill did not reply to the Otago Daily Times' request for comment yesterday, other than to say he would speak to Mr Caldwell directly.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he could not offer the assurance Mr Caldwell sought.
''I have a lot of respect for [Mr Caldwell] and his advocacy,'' Mr Kircher said. ''He has played an important part in the past and he is still playing a significant role in that area.
''The last thing I want to do is close the gate.
''I can't say categorically what is going to happen. We need to sit down as a council and talk about that, the councillors and I.''
Mr Caldwell was a founding member of the now-disbanded Oamaru Blue Penguin Committee that pre-dated the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. In the 1980s he counted penguins coming ashore at the site to determine whether a commercial venture would be viable there.
Last year, Tourism Waitaki reported the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony made about $1.3 million, or about 60% of the revenue, for the council-controlled organisation.
When Mr Caldwell did his initial counts in the 1980s only about 40 penguins came ashore. Now, through the conservation work supported by tourism dollars, up to 300 birds came ashore on summer nights.
Mr Kircher said he was ''an advocate for people being able to see [penguins] around the harbour''.
''There are other areas where they can go to and still see penguins.
''But, fundamentally, it undermines the tourism promotion, it undermines the scientific research, and it undermines the overall protection for the penguins when too many people start going for a free look and not paying. There still remains that problem.''
