New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Folklore and chimerical numbers: review of a millennium of interaction between fur seals and humans in the New Zealand region

CHRIS LALAS

Box 31, Portobello
Dunedin, New Zealand
email: penguins@xtra.co.nz

COREY J. A. BRADSHAW^*,+

Department of Zoology
University of Otago
P. O. Box 56
Dunedin, New Zealand

^*Present address: Antarctic Wildlife Research Unit, School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-05, Hobart, Tas 7001, Australia. email: corey.bradshaw@utas.edu.au

Abstract  The increase in numbers and range expansion of New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri Lesson) in the New Zealand region has prompted many people to comment on their effects on the marine and coastal environments. Overall there are anomalies in the data describing the distribution and abundance of fur seals in the New Zealand region, and there is a need for a better understanding of the interactions with humans and the impacts on the New Zealand environment. The distribution resulting from the present pattern of re-colonisation differs from the perception of their distribution before decimation by humans. We hypothesise that the pristine distribution was temperate rather than subantarctic. Previously published records which have documented changes in the abundance and distribution of the species are shown to be wanting. The most controversial management issue is interaction with commercial fisheries where we conclude that neither of the extreme options, culling of seals nor closure of some fishing grounds, is justified. Other issues addressed include tourism, te tikanga Maori o mahinga kai (the customary use of wildlife by Maori), and impact of fur seals on the coastal environment. This species offers a rare and exciting opportunity to test the theoretical processes of population expansion that can be investigated as a natural experiment. We suggest that the current management policy should remain unchanged until the current paucity of information on the degree of interaction between fur seals and humans has been addressed.

Keywords  New Zealand fur seal; Arctocephalus forsteri; subsistence hunting; Maori; Moriori; commercial exploitation; Leslie matrix model; population estimates; population survey; fisheries interactions; tourism; te tikanga Maori o mahinga kai; management

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2001, Vol. 35: 477-497

0028-8330/01/3503-0477 $7.00 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 2001

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1873K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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