● Remains of Sea Lions dating back to the Pleistocene era found in many areas on the New Zealand coastline.
● Sea Lion remains found in Maori and Moriori midden sites dating back to pre- European times indicating they were used as a food source.
● Intensive hunting by Polynesian and European settlers in the 1800’s for food and as a source of oil and pelts leads to their absence from the New Zealand mainland and their near extinction.
● 1893 sees a ban on the hunting of Sea lions due to their absence from natural habitats.
● Seals and Sea Lions are protected under the Marine Mammals Act 1978.
● At least 2000 Sea Lions have been killed since 1980 due to squid fishery practices in the Auckland Islands.
● An upper annual limit of 140 Sea Lion deaths from squid fishing is placed by the New Zealand Government.
● The 1993 breeding season sees the first pup born in the Otago region for over 200 years.
● In the 2008 breeding season six pups have been born making a total of 31 surviving pups born in the Otago region since 1993.
indications are that sea lions were pretty much wiped out fom the NZ mainland before the arrival of europeans (mid 18th century). There were probably colonies at Port Pegasus and Lords River on Stewart Island in the early 1800s. Europeans hunting seals down into the sub-antarctic were therefore destroying the last remnant populations of NZ sea lions. Can you heck the 1893 date for protection. I understood there was full protection of sea lions from 1873. Cheers, Jim.
By: Jim Fyfe on May 27, 2008
at 12:10 am