New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
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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