The new manager of the Royal Albatross Centre says the role will be a good fit for his years of experience in conservation.
Peninsula resident Hoani Langsbury started as Taiaroa Head manager of operations on April 1 after interim manager Annie Villiers resigned due to other commitments.
The Otago Peninsula Trust created the new role to merge management of the albatross colony with Blue Penguins Pukekura which Mr Langsbury already headed.
The albatross colony was to undergo a rebranding as a ''whole wildlife experience'' where people could come to view both penguins and albatrosses as well as other species.
Mr Langsbury said the centre had a successful year so far and hoped visitor growth would continue.
With winter approaching it was getting dark earlier so the penguins were coming ashore at more family-friendly times.
Tours at the centre would also include an increased focus on the Maori Heritage and history of the headlands.
The Taiaroa Heads were once the location of the pa of Mr Langsbury's ancestor Karetai, one of the chiefs who signed the treaty of Waitangi when it was brought to Otago in 1840.
Later, the Tairoa Heads became a pakeha fortification equipped with an Armstrong disappearing gun meant to protect against a Russian invasion that never came.
Mr Langsbury described his background as being in ''kaitiakitaka'', the Maori term for guardianship or stewardship.
He has degree in Zoology and Ecology from Victoria University in Wellington.
He has been active locally as a Otakou Community Support Group committee member, Trustee of the Otago Peninsula Trust, Chair of the Te Rauone Coastal Care Group and Otago Peninsula Community Board member.
He was the former chairperson of the Otago Conservation Board and a member of several national species recovery groups including co-ordinating the buff weka reintroduction.
''The role is a good fit with my last 15 years of life,'' Mr Langsbury said.
Mr Langsbury planned to take a hands-on approach to the role and ''awhi'' (support) his staff.
Shortly after starting the role he had played a very hands-on part in saving the life of a penguin under attack by a stoat.
While participating in a night-time pest control exercise he was confronted with the bizarre sight of a penguin running away from a stoat that was leaping on to its back in an attempt to get at its throat.
Mr Langsbury took aim and managed to shoot the stoat off the penguin's back.
Apart from being stressed, the penguin was unharmed.
- by Jonathan Chilton-Towle
