University of Otago paleoecologist Nic Rawlence will come to Oamaru to address ''Oamaru's unique marine wildlife: past, present and future'' this month.
Dr Rawlence co-authored a study last year that showed the Stewart Island shag was in fact two species of birds, the Foveaux shag and the Otago shag.
''The thing with Oamaru is that it has one of the largest colonies of little blue penguins and it's also got the Otago shag, which nests on Sumpter Wharf. That Sumpter Wharf colony is the largest colony in North Otago and one of the most important ones,'' he said.
''For the Otago shag, there is no conservation management strategy for that species. And you're looking at, in terms of genetic variation and threats to the species, the Otago shag is very similar to a kakapo and a takahe. Small population size, still declining, not much genetic variation.''
Dr Rawlence was invited to speak in Oamaru by the Waitaki branch of Forest & Bird, chairwoman Chloe Searle said she hoped the talk would ''give people a bit more information about the shags and then hopefully we can embrace them a bit more''.
''With conservation, you've definitely got some species which are the darlings, like penguins and kakapo, which humans relate really well to, and then you've got other ones that are just as important for our biodiversity, like shags, that don't enjoy the same popular appeal,'' she said.
Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony marine biologist Philippa Agnew said Dr Rawlence was the ''perfect person'' to give insight ''into a range of things'' Oamaru residents would not know ''about how the birds came to be here and what that means for us as a town''.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, who has been a proponent of the zipline as an economic driver for the town, said he did not want to ignore the value of shags to some in the community, but said he didn't ''see a problem with things coexisting''.
''It's great that wildlife is thriving in our area and we don't want to do things that are detrimental to that, but this ... is happening in spite of the activity that's already around and we're not talking about a major change to that.''
Sumpter Wharf, if left untouched, would fall into the sea anyway.
Dr Rawlence's presentation is on March 12 from 7pm at Adventure Books in Harbour St.
