A long-awaited expansion of the penguin colony near Oamaru Creek could become a reality this year.
Lorraine Adams, of the informal Oamaru conservation group Coast Care, has for the last 15 years lobbied for increased protection for the penguins north of Holmes Wharf.
She has watched the original site of the refuge disappear due to erosion and says a new expanded area, and new fencing for the refuge, were long overdue.
In May last year she suggested shifting the colony.
Last week Ms Adams said she was still frustrated by the ongoing efforts to expand the refuge, and with the inadequate state of the fence which was erected to keep people off the beach the penguins use.
She wrote to council chief executive Michael Ross in 2013, proposing an expanded area for the penguin refuge.
After a cycle learning park was approved near the penguin refuge late last year, she contacted Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher to ensure the land in question would not limit the expansion of the penguin refuge.
Mr Kircher replied, saying the council was "committed'' to extending the penguin reserve and was "also disappointed'' the work had not been done, but was "pushing this issue with Tourism Waitaki'' and understood the work would be done this year.
Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill said the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, which operated under the umbrella of Tourism Waitaki, had done a lot of work to prepare for an expanded refuge at Oamaru Creek.
Colony marine biologist Dr Philippa Agnew said building a new fence for the refuge would coincide with the council's remedial work to protect the beach from further erosion.
"We're working on it. And we're working with council to come up with the best plan that's going to sit with the area.
"We just want to make sure that we can give the penguins a bit more space, but work with other people in the area that want to use that land, as well.''
She said both the Oamaru Creek colony and the colony at the quarry, which ran as a tourism operation, were healthy populations with about several hundred penguins in each.
Both colonies had a fully marked population and nesting sites were checked each week, and both were tracking statistically similarly.
The area behind the penguin refuge was council land, Mr Kircher said, and could be used to accommodate an expanded refuge.
He said the council planned remedial work for the beach, which would provide ongoing protection of the shore, but there was a lot of excess gravel at the beach, providing natural erosion protection, and preventing the work from being done.
Council roading manager Michael Voss confirmed erosion protection at the shore of the penguin refuge would begin "within the next 12 months''.
