New Zealand Sea Lion
The New Zealand Sea Lion (Phocarctos hookeri) or
"Hooker's Sea Lion" is a species of sea lion that breeds around the coast of the
South Island
of New Zealand
and Stewart
Island, to some extent, and to a greater extent around much
smaller islands further south, notably the Auckland
Islands. As one of the larger New Zealand
animals, it has been a protected species since the 1890s.
There was thought to be a population of around 15,000 in the
mid-1990s. This may have declined somewhat since an outbreak of
disease in 1998 caused the deaths of 20% of adult females and 50%
of pups that year. Estimates (based on pup-counts) are about 13,000
for 2004.
A judgment of the Court of Appeal
of New Zealand issued on 7 April 2004,
with the reasons issued separately on 13 July 2004 (CA39/04), overturned a restrictive decision by the
Minister of
Fisheries, which had been based on advice from the Ministry of Fisheries; the Court
allowed squid fishers a
bycatch of up to 124
sea lions in the 2004 season, as against the 62 specified by the
Minister. As the species is considered to be far from "endangered",
the Court considered that the Minister's imposition of the lower
figure (one of the lowest ever imposed in the 20-year history of
such restrictions) was going beyond what the law required.
References
- Randall R. Reeves, Brent S. Stewart, Phillip J. Clapham and
James A. Powell (2002). National Audubon Society Guide to Marine
Mammals of the World. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0375411410.
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