Wildlife tour company applies for permit, sea lion and fur seal tours

The tours would only walk to view the marine mammals and the up to two vans used at one time in the operation would remain out of sight.

A new tourism venture proposed for Otago Peninsula will take groups along clifftops and into sand dunes to see New Zealand sea lions and fur seals.

Clearwater Wildlife Tours Ltd has applied to the Department of Conservation for a marine mammal permit, proposing to take tours from the Royal Albatross Colony to Cape Saunders Farm to see the endemic pinnipeds throughout the year.

The application said tour groups would be taken from Dunedin to Cape Saunders Farm cliff tops at Seal Point and along Little Papanui Beach into sand dunes along formed walking tracks to see the animals from a safe distance.

Up to four tours a day during the high season would spend about two hours at the farm, it said.

It said the tours would only walk to view the marine mammals and the up to two vans used at one time in the operation would remain out of sight, more than 200m away from the animals.

When approaching the animals on foot, the tours would stay a minimum of 20m from the animals; flash photography would not be allowed.

The tours would not visit areas where the animals were creching, seals with pups would not be approached closer than 30m and tours would not pursue viewing mothers that had retired to dunes to rest or suckle pups, it said.

The application for a marine mammal permit is for a term of 10 years.

Submissions close on November 13.