Australian fur seal pup population is shrinking

Full article issued by Philip Island Nature Parks and Plos.

ARC supported researchers has conducted a census of annual pup production by Australian fur seal populations and revealed the first reduction since species-wide protection was implemented in 1975.

In the marine environment, monitoring the abundance and population trends of a top predator can provide measures of ecosystem health and management success. Fur seals, Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus, are important upper trophic level predators that, in Australia, are a protected marine species facing specific challenges related to fisheries and aquaculture management, ecotourism, potential impacts on seabirds, and response planning for oil spills and other emergencies.

An ad-hoc monitoring program, coordinated across multiple stakeholders conducted a range-wide census of live pups in the Austral summers of 2002, 2007 and 2013. A part of the census took place on Montague Island and was funded by an ARC Linkage Project grant led by Professor Rob Harcourt.