A total of 59 delegates attended the two-day symposium at the Oamaru Opera House featuring speakers from throughout New Zealand and Australia, who delivered speeches on efforts to conserve penguin populations in Australasia.
Forest and Bird Society researcher and conference keynote speaker Chris Gaskin said one-third of the world's penguin species breed in New Zealand, but of those six species, five had a threat ranking of vulnerable or endangered.
Mr Gaskin, who, had previously worked with the University of Otago on a project to reconstruct giant penguin fossils, many of which had been recovered from the Waitaki Valley, said Forest and Bird was now working with Birdlife International to create a database to identify key sites that could be designated as important bird areas (IBA).
The project was "vital" to the future survival of the country's seabird population, but it also needed to be included in the future thinking of local government, he said"Here in New Zealand there is a generally poor appreciation of seabirds and the threats they face.
"The aim is to get that data into regional and coastal planning so that these sites are flagged.
"New Zealand figures strongly as a global hot-spot for fossil penguins. It is a heritage that stretches back 58 to 62 million years.
"This is our heritage and it is our responsibility as New Zealanders to ensure that it is a link that remains open."
IBAs would identify, monitor and protect key sites that held one or more globally threatened, endemic or congregatory birds.
He added that the IBA database was scheduled for public release in 2013, and it would "make sense" if the area between Oamaru Harbour and Cape Wanbrow received IBA status, combining protection for both Yellow-eyed and Blue Penguins in the area.
