No penguin tours yet

PARKS Victoria has hosed down community fears about proposals to allow guided tours to the penguin colony at London Bridge in the Port Campbell national park.The government agency said yesterday no decision had been made and a workshop meeting in Colac on January 12 was purely for specialists and invited stakeholders to discuss environmental issues associated with London Bridge.Parks Victoria ranger in charge, Will Cox, said any decision on the issue would involved community consultation."This workshop is not intended to be a broader community consultation process," he said."Following the outcomes of the visitor risk and environmental risk assessments, Parks Victoria will then start a decision-making process on the feasibility of the proposal."Peterborough wildlife shelter operator Annie Fraser told The Standard she had boycotted the Colac meeting because of concerns about beach dangers and threats to the colony's sustainability.Another environmentalist said beach tours were not necessary because there was already a viewing area above the cliff-base colony's nesting area.Mr Cox said tourist operators had approached Parks Victoria in the past 15 months to consider permitting restricted access to the London Bridge beach for dusk visits.Public access to the beach was barred in the late 1970s after vandalism led to a decline in colony numbers."Parks Victoria is undertaking a process to determine the viability of tours," he said.A visitor risk assessment had been undertaken and also an environmental risk assessment , which included site analysis, identification of values, threats and risks, he said.