Kangaroo Island tourists may soon be able to access a patch of pristine coastline that has been off-limits to the public for 45 years.
South Australia's Environment Department is considering a proposal to raise revenue by offering expensive tours in the island's Seal Bay Conservation Park.
The park is the jewel in the crown of the island's multi-million dollar tourism industry and the walks would offer access to an important sea lion breeding site.
Groups of sightseers would be accompanied by rangers on daily monitoring activities or researchers on scientific studies.
The department's chief executive, Allan Holmes, says the tours would offer a behind-the-scenes look at the endangered species.
"The idea here is that it's a smaller, more intimate group that's able to get a little bit closer under supervision, where they're able to observe things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to see," he said.
But one tourism operator on the island says he will not support the plan unless it can be shown to benefit the sea lion population.
Craig Wickham has been running tours at Seal Bay since the 1990s.
He says money raised should be put back into conservation.
"The only reason you would do this is if you're going to get money going directly back into research to look after that amazing colony we've got at Seal Bay," he said.
Mr Holmes says the money would go into the national parks system, but not directly to the sea lions.
"We spend a fair amount of money on the research associated with the Australian sea lion and I don't imagine that we'd increase that, I mean, I think we spend an adequate amount."