Since last spring, when the Waitaki District Council agreed to leave gates open allowing public access to the breakwater permanently, crowds have gathered there - outside the ticketed Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony - to watch rafts of little penguins come ashore at night.
While winter crowds are smaller than the up to 100 people a day who gathered along the breakwater on summer nights, the behaviour of the crowd recently raised the ire of a Northland visitor to Oamaru, who was ''very disillusioned'' after seeing the crowds spoil what had been one of her ''fondest memories'' of the South Island.
''I willingly paid for the experience to see the penguins coming home, as did all the other spectators within the complex. We all respected the no noise and no cameras requests yet the 'freeloaders' on the breakwater lit up the darkness like a paparazzi light show,'' Nicki Knier wrote in a letter to the penguin colony and the mayor, obtained by the Otago Daily Times.
''I am thoroughly disgusted with the council at allowing this to happen as, in doing so, they are evidently condoning the inevitable decrease in penguin numbers. How can any rational person be comfortable with such a destructive decision, let alone how can a whole council body support it.''
Mr Kircher said it was not the first time the council had received comments to that effect but this was ''probably the strongest set of comments and it is cause for concern''.
''We've been trying to get the balance right between allowing public access and also maintaining the ecological balance.
''The intention was open it up and try and get people maximum access - and there are no doubts there are some issues and what we need to do as a council is sit down and work our way through those issues - whether we can manage them or whether we need a dusk closure, which is probably the only thing that is going to fix it.
''We need to look at all options; fundamental to this is two principals: one is maintaining as much public access as possible and the other is ... that the penguin welfare is looked after.''
Jason Gaskill, general manager of Tourism Waitaki, which manages the penguin colony, said the colony and the council had been in discussions.
Like Mr Kircher, he wanted a resolution to the issue before spring, when large crowds returned to the area, but he said it was not the size of the crowd but the actions of individuals that was of most concern.
People were using flash photography, but also climbing down on to the rocks below the breakwater to get a closer look.
''I think there's always room to consider the best course of action and I would like to think that the colony's operations as a standard for tourism supported wildlife protection would provide some guidance,'' he said.
''The colony is successful primarily because of the safeguards that are in place around people's behaviour in proximity to the penguins, particularly cameras, noise, movement, all these things.
''There's always possibilities to educate. I think the difference to point out between what goes on inside the colony and outside is the ability we have inside the colony to make adhering to those standards and those expectations a condition of entry.
''We can enforce particular standards and certain behaviours.''
