Last month, up to 150 tourists wanting a free view of the penguins, combined with full-houses of 400 people paying upwards of $28 at the commercial Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, created safety issues for people and the birds.
That prompted a volunteer who, along with three others, each night were trying to control crowds, traffic and protect penguins, raising fears of a major accident.
The colony is owned by the Waitaki District Council and managed by its company, Tourism Waitaki.
Yesterday, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher met Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill to discuss what had to be done.
Mr Kircher said things ''really came to a head in February'' with the number of people in the area and he had seem for himself how busy it was at night.
The colony would usually have about 8000 visitors; last month, it had 11,000 and nights when seating was sold out.
An action plan was decided on yesterday to manage and keep visitors and the birds safe.
It included more support, co-ordination and a uniform for a ''small core of dedicated volunteers'', who tried to supervise visitors wanting a free view and traffic, to protect the birds outside the colony and ensure they reached their nests safely.
Other actions were developing a traffic management plan for vehicles and people viewing the penguins at the colony and other areas at the harbour, and cordoning off an area for people watching penguins outside the colony.
One of the volunteer penguin guardians, p.d.r. Lindsay-Salmon, raised the issue in a letter to the editor, saying she was worried about the effects on penguins and tourists.
The four guardians are at the harbour on roster virtually every night.
Last night, she was there before sunset, directing tourists to the colony.
However, some tourists said they had been told they could see the penguins free at the two boat ramps near the colony and told where to park to avoid blocking the penguins' path to their nests, where to stand, to keep at least 5m away from the birds, not use flash photography and watch for danger from traffic.
The volunteers also stopped traffic coming from the colony if penguins were crossing so they did not get hit.
About 30 people were there last night, but last month there were 100 to 150 some nights, Ms Lindsay-Salmon said.
She was ''horrified'' at the number of people turning up for free viewing, partly due to the publicity Oamaru had received in publications such as Lonely Planet.
While welcome, that had put pressure on facilities.
Some of the breaches of ''penguin viewing etiquette'' she saw included tourists chasing the birds to get photographs up close, using flashes, trying to stand among groups of penguins and even attempting to pick them up.
Ms Lindsay-Salmon said the volunteers were under pressure and they would welcome more help, especially to help at busy periods.
