There it was on Friday, a fence limiting access to the famous glowworm tunnel at Helensburgh.

And plenty of people were not happy about it, taking to social media to express their anger about suddenly being unable to enter the tunnel.

“Are you kidding? That’s ridiculous,” wrote Steven Jenner on Facebook. “Nothing for free, huh.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” said Sarah Brady. “Why would they do such a thing?”

For Sjaan Whipps the decision to install the fence was “ridiculous”.

“That’s [an] appalling, disgusting thing to do. I hope it’s not going to be permanent – lots of complaints I bet,” she wrote.

Some regretted not visiting the tunnel to see the glowworms before the fence went up, while others breathed a sigh of relief that they had recently paid a visit.

But others saw the need for the fence – it wasn’t for our benefit.

It was for the benefit of the very glowworms everybody wanted to see.

The Bushwalk the Gong page wrote of people using “flares, torches and steel wool” to light up the tunnel so as to take photographs, possibly for their Instagram page.

“It's heartbreaking to see such extreme measures required for preservation, but without respect in these and other places, this might be the future of more places,” the Bushwalk the Gong Facebook page said.

And this, it seems is the heart of the problem. Too many people are going to see the glowworms more interested in getting a great photo that any concern about the glowworms themselves.

Allan House from Helensburgh Landcare said the glowworm population had been “decimated” by the use of flares and other light sources to make very clever photographs, despite the fact the practice actually harms the glowworms.

So the plan is to fence off the tunnel to let the glowworm population recover and then look to allow access at certain times to restrict the number of visitors.

It’s the right decision – if the glowworms in the Helensburgh tunnel are in danger of dying out, it’s important to step in and save them.

It’s also important to manage the site going forward, to ensure that the glowworms are there for us to enjoy for many years to come.