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New Zealand Fur Seals - Fact Sheet

New Zealand is a country with no native land mammals, except for bats. However, we do have a number of native marine mammals, including the New Zealand fur seal. Up to two million fur seals once thronged the shores of New Zealand and its sub-Antarctic islands.

Fur seals were first hunted by Maori and then almost hunted to extinction by early European sealers. The current population is around 5 percent of the population of over 1.5 to 2 million fur seals and that was estimated to exist before 1800. Over 500,000 fur seals were taken by sealers in the early 1800s from Antipodes, Macquarie and Campbell Islands alone. Others took New Zealand (Hooker's) sea lions. The current population of fur seals - around 60,000 - is fewer than the tally killed in one season during the peak of sealing on the Antipodes lslands in the sub-Antarctic.

Two genetically distinct populations
Research into the genetic diversity of fur seals has indicated the presence of two genetically distinct subspecies. The rarer of the two based around the Snares Island but also found on the East and West Coasts of South Island. New Zealand has obligations under the Biodiversity Convention to maintain genetic diversity. The deaths of fur seals in fisheries is a threat to this genetic diversity.

Fur seal population
New Zealand fur seals are found right around our coasts and sub-Antarctic islands. The main fur seal populations are on the West Coast of the South Island, Fiordland, Solander Island and Bounty Islands. A small population of New Zealand fur seals also lives around southern parts of Australia.

While there has been an increase in numbers at the margins of the fur seal range, for example in the Nelson-Marlborough Area, Cook Strait and Otago Peninsula, the increases have been small compared to the overall population, for example around 500 pups are produced in Nelson-Marlborough area. Some large colonies, for example Solander Island and Snares Island, Open Bay Island and other West Coast South Island breeding colonies have shown little population change in the last 20 years or have declined.

The only large colony which has shown consistent increases in the past 25 years is at the Bounty Islands. This colony has been estimated at around 20,000 but is less than five percent of the number of animals that used to occur on the Bounty and Antipodes Islands based on the number of pelts taken off these islands in the early 1800s. In comparison the Antipodes Island has shown very little recovery since sealing.

Prior to the arrival of humans to New Zealand fur seals bred around the North and South Islands of New Zealand. By 1800 AD fur seals had been reduced to the south-western South Island of New Zealand as a result of hunting pressure by Maori. The current expansion in the range of fur seals is filling areas where previously seals were found.

The number of rookeries (breeding grounds) and winter haul-out or resting sites is increasing. However, it is unclear whether the total population is growing. In 1992 at Cape Palliser, near Wellington, seals bred on the North Island for the first time in over a century.

Fur seal population and by-catch
Fur seals are drowned in significant numbers in trawl nets throughout the New Zealand EEZ. Between 1989 and 2000 (the most recent year for which data is available) over 6200 fur seals are estimated to have drowned in the West Coast hoki fishery and over 12,000 throughout the EEZ (see table).

In addition to the West Coast hoki fishery large numbers have been drowned east of Stewart Island and around the Bounty Islands. The hoki fishery has had a high fur seal catch for over 10 years. The largest catch was 45 animals in one trawl net. The fur seal catch rate was higher in the second half of the 1990s than in the early 1990s on the West Coast.

Numbers of fur seals estimated caught in the trawl fisheries

Fishing Year	West Coast Hoki	Bycatch rate (deaths/trawl)	Hoki elsewhere	Hoki Total	Other fisheries	Total	Ref
1999-00	561	0.073	163 (note 1)	724	328	1052	Baird 2001
1998-99	215	0.03	405 (note 2)	620	508	1128	Baird 2000a
1997-98	1032	0.13	196	1230	295	1534	Baird 1999a
1996-97	772	0.077	215	990	250	1237	""
1995-96	1289	0.13	301	1697	407	2110	Manly et al, 02
1994-95	333	0.034	315	650	425	1073	""
1993-94	253	0.026	204	460	700	1157	""
1992-93	299	0.039	264	560	528	1091	""
1991-92	142	0.020	79	210	363	584	""
1990-91	116	0.013	270	390	15	401	""
1989-90	342		?	?	114	456	Baird, 1994
1988-89	900		?	?		1000+	""
Total	6252			7531	3933	12823

Note 1: The fur seal captures for the non-West Coast South Island hoki fishery differ from Baird's estimates because we have used all the data available. Baird did not estimate total deaths were observer coverage was less than 10 percent of all tows in an area.
Note 2: The fur seal captures for the non-West Coast South Island hoki fishery differ from Baird's estimates because we have used all the data available. Baird did not estimate total deaths were observer coverage was less than 10 percent of all tows in an area.

Fur seals are also caught on tuna and ling longline hooks. In 1999/2000 47 fur seals were caught on observed boats. Most are reported by observers as released alive.

The populations of several fur seal colonies on the West Coast of the South Island have been declining in the last 5 years. Female seals do not breed until they are around 5-6 years old and males attain territorial status at about 10. This decline is consistent with the deaths in the hoki fishery as these colonies are the nearest to the West Coast fishery, eg. at Cape Foulwind.

Fur seal colonies adjacent hoki fishery: pup numbers

Year	Wekakura Point	Cape Foulwind	Taumaka Island	Total
1991	na	267	770
1992	791	418	1325	2534
1993	942	446	1376	2764
1994	1007	392	1321	2720
1995	901	382	1442	2725
1996	1099	389	1323	2811
1997	976	283	1144	2403
1998	1048	332	1256	2636
1999	534	187	625	1346
2000	463	148	494	1105
2001
Average	862	331	1145	12338

Source: Hon Sandra Lee: Minister of Conservation - Answer to Question for Written Answer - 19012. 6 November 2000, Parliament of New Zealand.

Why are they drowning?
Hoki, squid and southern blue whiting fisheries use nets that can have an opening the size of a rugby field and can be as long as a 14 storey building is tall. Hoki are not part of the natural diet of seals and trawling is at depths much lower than fur seals are known to dive. However, seals are often caught as the nets are played out and retrieved.

Seals have learnt that the sounds of winches hauling in heavy nets and the bright lights used to illuminate trawler decks are signposts leading to an easy meal. They are caught in the net's gaping mouth while diving for non-commercial fish species or diving for hoki that spill out from the trawl net. Once inside, the seal will either drown or be crushed to death by the fish catch as the net is hauled in.

Marine Mammal Exclusion Devices (MMED)
The fishing industry has been extremely slow in looking at alternative fishing technology that does not kill fur seals. They initially opposed research by the Department of Conservation to develop a seal exclusion device, which started in 1992.

It is unclear whether the device works and ejects live seals. If it just ejects dead or dying animals then the device could just be a means of obscuring the impact of fishing on fur seals. The industry are trialling the device in the hoki fishery in Australia but have refused to undertake this research in New Zealand. Result from the devices used in the Auckland Island squid fishery has indicated that it may mortally injure ejected sea lions.

While design changes may improve the Seal Exclusion Devices (SLED) it is very unclear whether this will be successful. More work is needed into the Marine Mammal Exclusion Devices (MMED) and the industry could play a role by undertaking research. The fishing industry has so far resisted this.

Legislative Protection
The Marine Mammals Protection Act was passed by Parliament in 1978 to protect marine mammals. It gave marine mammals a similar status to protected bird species under the Wildlife Act.

The Sixth Schedule of the Fisheries Act 1996 sets out changes to the Wildlife Act and the Marine Mammals Protection Act. The changes to both these Acts are very similar. Changes to the Fisheries Act 1996 also require the Minister of Fisheries, in consultation with the Minister of Conservation to "avoid, remedy or mitigate the effects of fishing related mortality on any protected species" for example fur seals (section 15).

The Minister of Fisheries has failed in his duty to implement measures to avoid, remedy or mitigate the effects of fishing on marine mammals.

This seal was one of the lucky few to survive being caught in a hoki trawl net. The great majority of caught seals drown, and would experience no less terror than that of unwanted kittens thrown in a sack into the river.

Diet mainly non-commercial species
Some fishers still argue for the culling of seals on the grounds that they deplete fish stocks. Studies of the diet of fur seals have shown that they eat predominantly non-commercial species - lanternfish, anchovies, octopus and squid make up most of the diet. Commercial finfish species like hoki make up a very small proportion of the fur seal diet - this includes hoki heads and offal that is discharged by boat processing at sea.

Fur seals are capable of diving to over 200 metres depth in search of food and barracouta may seasonally be a significant finfish species in their diet.

The fishing industry claim that seals eat more fish than they catch. If seals eat 5kg of fish per day then a population of 60,000 would eat around 110,000 tonnes of fish. This is much less than the more than 550,000 tonnes of fish caught each year by commercial fishers.

Seals and salmon farms
Sea cage salmon farmers have conflicts with fur seals and have tried to remove animals rather than improve the marine farms operation.

Researchers have looked at the interaction between Australian fur seals and salmon farms around Tasmania. While the NZ fur seal is a different species the Tasmanian experience is likely to be representative of the situation in New Zealand. Their paper made a number of conclusions:

• The vulnerability of fish-farms was influenced by their proximity to seal haul-out sites. Proximity to fishing ports and size of the fish farm had little influence.
• The use of shooting as a protection method was inefficient and ineffective because seals usually entered fish-farms at night and showed no fear of shooters. There were many attacks in the presence of underwater acoustic seal scarers. Deterrents such as pursuit with boats, lights, seal crackers and emetics helped reduce the number of seal attacks.
• The only way to prevent seals from attacking fish-farms is to exclude them from the vicinity of the fish pens with physical barriers that they cannot penetrate. These are currently in use, and include perimeter fences and protection nets made of steel mesh set around individual pens.

Fur seal and pup. Swimming practice for youngs seals begins in shallow pools from as early as ten days old. Seals are inquisitive and playful animals and have no natural predators on land.		If you come across a seal entangled in plastic strapping or other rubbish, do not try to free the seal yourself. Notify the nearest Department of Conservation office as soon as possible.