Three publicly funded institutions in Otago have paid out more than $1.2 million in compensation to employees in the past five years, official records show.

A Dunedin school is crying out for host families to house short-stay overseas exchange students, saying it has had to turn down foreign students as they have no beds for them.

The skipper and owner of a seabird charter boat which has tourists feeding sea birds says he is "only trying to do a good thing" but the practice is putting prized creatures at risk, opponents say.