Approximately 30 people have chosen to spend the duration of the nationwide lockdown on the remote Tītī Islands off the coast of Rakiura (Stewart Island).

Several families headed to the islands on March 15 for the beginning of the annual mutton birding season. The season runs from April 1 to May 31 each year, with whanau being allowed to go down two weeks before the season starts to set up and prepare their houses for the season. 

However, after the announcement on March 21 that New Zealand was to go into a level 4 lockdown for four weeks, the Rakiura Tītī Islands Administering Body (RTIAB) decided to revoke the permits allowing whanau to stay and harvest Titi for the season. 

Twenty-three people were flown off the islands, as well as several hunters and trampers, in an evacuation organised by the RTIAB, before the deadline on Wednesday, March 25. 

A spokesperson for RTIAB, Tina Nixon, said only one man has stayed behind, as he had "refused" to leave. He was now living there without a permit. 

But, this is where it gets tricky. 

There are two types of islands among the 36 that comprise the Tītī Islands surrounding Rakiura: the Beneficial Islands and the formerly Crown-owned islands. 

The Beneficial Islands are family-owned by ancestral right and are passed down through the generations.

The Tītī Islands, meanwhile, were administered by the Crown until they were given back as part of the Ngai Tahu settlement. They are now administered by a Maori Authority, the RTIAB referred to above. 

As the Beneficial islands are privately owned, they are not subject to the same legislation that the formerly Crown-owned islands are. Therefore, families with rights to stay there don't have to follow the same health and safety guidelines set out by the RTIAB and can choose to stay on the Beneficial Islands if they wish to do to so. 

Ms Nixon said she believed the people on the beneficial islands were putting their health and safety at risk, as well as putting undue pressure on the emergency services should they become ill or injure themselves and require emergency evacuation. 

She said the RTIAB’s decision to revoke permits was a very hard one to make, but ultimately the right thing to do. Only one member of the RTIAB's governing committee abstained from the vote – all others had supported the revocation of the permits.

"As a committee, we have an obligation to ensure the safety of the mutton birders... we stand by our decision," she said. 

She said it was unfair that the people on the beneficial islands were exempt from having to isolate at home like other New Zealanders. 

"DOC has called all hunters and fishermen out of the bush; is it fair that they [mutton birders] can stay when everyone is supposed to be reducing risk?"

"Everyone else in New Zealand has locked themselves down to reduce the risk of spreading the virus and putting unnecessary pressure on the emergency services.. what if someone [on the islands] falls and breaks their leg?" she said.

She said the committee was also concerned that any of the mutton birders could have unknowingly come into contact with someone with COVID-19, but who was asymptomatic, before arriving at the islands on March 15. 

Ngai Tahu kaumatua Michael Skerrett – who abstained from voting on the revocation of the permits – said that the odds of one of the mutton birders having been infected with COVID-19 prior to March 15 was very low.

"There's been no one there [on the islands] and when the families went down there was only one person in Invercargill [with COVID-19]," he said.

He added the islands were the safest place for the families to be to not contract the virus because they were so isolated.

"Where on earth would be safer?" he said.

He said around 300 people usually travelled to the islands for mutton birding season at this time of year and being able to go was a customary right. 

As for supplies and provisions, he said families usually took enough food to last two months – so they would be well catered for until at least mid-May should the lock-down period be extended. 

Local Riverton fisherman Rewi Bull said some of his family were staying on Big South Cape Island, off the southern coast of Stewart Island. 

He said they had enough food for at least a couple of months but would start to run low on fresh fruit and vegetables. After self-isolating for a few weeks, he plans to take some food down to his family and stay on the island with them. He said he considered this "essential travel", as the people on the islands would need supplies if the lockdown time was extended. 

The Stewart Island Marine radio operator Maureen Jones said the muttonbirding families were fine and well catered for. 

She declined to reveal the exact number of people who were currently isolating on the islands but said she did not believe they were at risk.

“They’re all well and carrying on with their daily life," she said.

She also said there was "a contingency in place should they need help" but she didn't want to elaborate on the specifics of what that plan was. 

"They will be catered for and will not go hungry," she said.