Australian Sea Lions

Project aim:

To improve the conservation status of endangered Australian sea lions by gaining scientific knowledge on critical feeding grounds and behaviours of Australian sea lions. 

A recent study has shown more than a 60% decline over 40 years in populations of Australian Sea Lions.

These animals face a range of threats that could be contributing to the prevention of their recovery from pre-sealing population levels.

Understanding where sea lions spend significant periods of time for key activities such as foraging, transit, and resting, and the extent of interactions with key threats is critical for effective management strategies.

Key information:

Satellite tracking has proved to be an invaluable tool for obtaining valuable information on key areas for the species.

In this project, we are extending the current spatial data set on foraging habitat in Australian sea lions by applying satellite tracking technology to male sea lions known to use islands in the Perth Metropolitan area in Western Australia.

Foraging habitat, transit, and ranging information obtained for this region using satellite tagging technology will allow overlapping areas of human pressures to be mapped, and this knowledge used to improve the basis for conservation and management of Australian sea lions.

Through providing knowledge for informed management, we aim to contribute knowledge that can be used to change the direction of the Australian sea lion population trend to an upward moving trend.

See here for the Australian Sea Lion recovery plan.