NZ Fur Seals at Murray Mouth!!

[tonyb 1,017]

Hi All,Just came off one of my Bird Watching sites where the shore birds in the Goolwa area are regularly reported, along with other species.One of the guys on there saw so many Fur Seals in the Mouth and up the Channel that he thought it was worth reporting them on a Bird Watching Site :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

[Purnong 0]

There was a heap hanging around the Goolwa barrages last time I was down thereIt seems like these things are popping up all over the place even in the Onk a while agoWonder if there's been a bit of a population explosion?

[surfishera 0]

Was down there last weekend and counted at least 15 kickin around the mouth. Wonder if there's something big that has chased them there and is waiting for them to come out or if there after all the freshwater fish getting flushed out of the barrage.

[weaver 271]

Been there for ages and numbers are building, Need a cull but people wouldn;t like that i think, The numbers have exploded so much so i predict in 10 years there will be no more penguins on granite island,

[crispy 2]

Hi all me mum went on one of those oldies boat trips not so long ago and showed me some photos of all of them down there ,apparently it started with only one seal when they were doing some work on the barrages then h told his mates and they told theres and here is what we have now ,if the mouth was a bit deeper maybe a great white could get in that would sort em out easy pickins must say there is a lot down therecrispy

[crispy 2]

Oh forgot to mention they are thinking of culling them at admirals arch on ki as there are just to many of them in the colony ,maybe fur seal is of the menu for the big bityes this yearcrispy

[FishnSnags 0]

They can scare the crap out of you if its dark and they fly out of the channel up onto the flats right at ya feet! Last thing we needed after having a few huge rays swim between us just before dark.

[Savagelip 4]

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[Ubolt 0]

The mouth is pretty deep at the moment. I've seen dolfins up near goolwa barrage one time in my kayak. Scared the crap out of me

[Knackers 696]

They are at Fowlers Bay as well. Out on the ledge (poofters perch to the locals) they have a colony to the right when looking out into the bay. The sea lions are to the left. I noticed them for the first time last year.

[Del 245]

1300 Aussie sea lions left in Australia.. 300,000 NZ fur seals.. Its seriously time to do somthing.. Penguin colonies are depleted even the cuttle fish in whyalla are low in numbers.. I'm not saying its connected but..

[Guest]

Its a strange situation. The greenies (who run DENR) say they want to conserve biodiversity etc but then on the other hand their ideology prevents them from culling an animal in plague proportions such as the NZ fur seal.As a consequence biodiversity is slowly being lost!These people will sit there making big statements and demanding marine parks but they haven't got the intestinal fortitude to make the tough decision when they're required.Instead they'll just make excuses as to why there's no need to cull.

[Kingsley 19]

I'm not sure I understand the big hooha about the NZ fur seals.They are naturally found in Australian waters, they are called NZ fur seals because that's where you find most of them.They were in huge numbers in Australia in early colonial days, hunted to near extinction by sealers (I've read 100,000 taken from KI, 300,000 taken from WA etc).I'm not sure why they have become so prolific compared to the sea lions, they have both had the same opportunities, maybe sea lions just don't get it on like the fur seals do :)anyway, so its the natural order of things, we kill the seals, other species thrive in a 'seal free' environment. we stop killing the seals they come back and have all this lovely food to eat (mmm tasty penguins etc). of course their numbers are going to explode, but like all things in nature, if it gets out of control something will come along to correct it (more predators, lack of food etc).in short, we stuffed it up, its fixing itself, if we try to 'fix' the 'problem' we will just end up ballsing it up again.let nature take its course.

[Tacklebags 404]

I'm not sure I understand the big hooha about the NZ fur seals.They are naturally found in Australian waters' date=' they are called NZ fur seals because that's where you find most of them.They were in huge numbers in Australia in early colonial days, hunted to near extinction by sealers (I've read 100,000 taken from KI, 300,000 taken from WA etc).I'm not sure why they have become so prolific compared to the sea lions, they have both had the same opportunities, maybe sea lions just don't get it on like the fur seals do :)anyway, so its the natural order of things, we kill the seals, other species thrive in a 'seal free' environment. we stop killing the seals they come back and have all this lovely food to eat (mmm tasty penguins etc). of course their numbers are going to explode, but like all things in nature, if it gets out of control something will come along to correct it (more predators, lack of food etc).in short, we stuffed it up, its fixing itself, if we try to 'fix' the 'problem' we will just end up ballsing it up again.let nature take its course.[/quote']Just to clarify some historical misconceptions here...The NZ fur seal predominantly occupied the east coast of OZ but was forced further south once the human population along the East coast grew larger/culling started there etc.This then placed increased competition on the viability of the Australian Sea lion in our southern waters until further human hunting along the south coast nearly wiped both species out.Since protection of both species, the NZ fur seal has proliferated due to it's feeding habits, avoidance of commonwealth fishing nets more than Aus seal lions and on top of this, adult male aggression kills almost 50% of all sea lion pups. A problem the NZ fur seal pups do not suffer from on the same levels.Fertility and death rates during birth from memory are also factors. TB

[Ubolt 0]

I've seen the seals pinching fish out of the pros nets

[tonyb 1,017]

An article in the Tiser recently about the survey of pingys on Granite Island had their numbers down to a mere 25 :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: The reporter, thankfully, did pick up that pingys are a major diet item of the NZ Seals

[Del 245]

My post was meant to say 13000. Nz seals gestation period 12months. Aussie fur seals 18months.

[kon 300]

A further count of little penguins on Granite Island at Victor Harbor has confirmed a colony of just 26.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-22/little-penguins-count-confirms-bleak-outlook/4214446"We cannot really manage the predation that is occurring at sea..."Can`t - replace with "won`t" - assuming it is our place to play God with species distribution/conservation in the first instance, unless there are actual/potential environmental threats which generate an imperative to do something?"...but what we can manage are the things that are happening on land, and that's where to date at a local level we've been concentrating our efforts."Obviously either not working too well, or they are trying to "manage" the wrong aspect?"We've put together an action plan with the penguin ecologists..."Better be a bloody good one, with only a couple of dozen of the beasties remaining...although as Kingsley pragmatically said a few posts back - "let nature take its course".A valid point - if it`s not blatantly anthropogenically caused, is it up to us to interfere to keep "things" the way they "are"?