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Ramps save endangered sea lion pups


A sea lion pup climbs up a ramp to escape a deep and deadly hole on the Subantarctic Enderby Island. Funding for the ramps has been provided by WWF. Credit: Derek Hamner.

WWF & DOC media release: for immediate release

Ramps save endangered sea lion pups

New images and footage released today reveal how ‘escape’ ramps installed in holes in the ground are saving endangered sea lion pups from a needless death.

Twenty-three pups have been recorded by GoPro cameras using the wooden ramps to haul themselves to safety on New Zealand’s remote Enderby Island since Department of Conservation (DOC) contractors installed them in January. The team returned to the mainland this week.

Earlier in the summer, 65 pups were pulled out of the holes by researchers. The holes have steep sides and deep mud at the bottom. The ramps enable the pups to climb out to safety.

WWF supporters paid for twelve ramps to be installed on Enderby Island and for three new ramps and the repair of existing ones on Campbell and Dundas Islands.

“If pups fall into these holes and can’t climb out, they can suffer from hypothermia, starve or drown. Sea lions face so many other threats, such as entanglement in fishing gear, disease and competition for food, that we need to do everything we can to give these pups the best chance of survival,” said Milena Palka, WWF-New Zealand’s Marine Species Advocate.

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New Zealand sea lions are the rarest species of sea lion in the world and the most threatened because of their declining numbers. They are classed as ‘nationally critical’ and are only found in Otago, Southland, Stewart Island and the Subantarctic Islands.

Ian Angus, DOC’s Marine Species and Threats Manager said: “The results of this summer trial are very exciting. DOC staff intend to monitor the ramps to see how they might best assist the sea lions through the year. Full credit is due to WWF for supporting and financing the trial. It’s certainly a encouraging result for the sea lions.”

Researchers from DOC spend the summer months in the Subantarctic Islands counting and tagging sea lion pups, and have been monitoring the effectiveness of the ramps.

ENDS


Notes to editors:
Sea lions mainly breed on the Auckland Islands’ Enderby and Dundas Islands (70 per cent of the species) and Campbell Island (30 per cent), with small numbers found on Stewart Island. In the last decade, sea lions have started breeding on the Otago coast.

Mud bogs are also responsible for dozens of sea lion pup fatalities on Campbell Island, but mitigation measures including ramps are more difficult there due to challenging terrain and aggressive males. Since the breeding season ended, researchers have installed three ramps. Monitoring will be undertaken next season when the team returns.

A Threat Management Plan for the New Zealand sea lion is being developed by DOC and the Ministry for Primary Industries, in consultation with stakeholders, in response to last season’s low pup count on the Auckland Islands

This summer, a total of 1576 pups were counted on the Auckland Islands – one more than the previous year’s count. It is the fourth lowest since monitoring began in the mid-1990s and showed an on-going trend of decline over the last decade.

This year’s trip to Campbell Island was made possible by funding from Deepwater Group and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

See http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/marine-mammals/seals/new-zealand-sea-lion/docs-work/new-zealand-sea-lion-threat-management-plan/ for further information.

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