The Australian sea lion occurs in the coastal waters of southern Australia. Rangers with National Parks and Wildlife South Australia have monitored breeding at the Seal Bay colony for more than 20 years. These data show that the number of pups born has fluctuated, but there have been no clear trends either up or down. The cause or causes of these significant 'die-offs' are unknown, Shaughnessy says. There are other elements to the mystery.
Sea lions bask on a sunny beach at Kangaroo Island.
Hookworm has been known to decimate fur seal populations in the Northern Hemisphere, and was found in one dead sea lion pup at The Pages Islands colony in 1997. Or environmental imbalances such as competition from the booming fur seal population could reduce the availability of food for lactating females. We know that sea lions are active around some fisheries, and we suspect they're sometimes an unintended part of the catch,' Shaughnessy says. This is one reason why knowledge of sea lion feeding habits could be crucial to their conservation. But before we can do that, we need considerably more research - and that means more funding.