New Zealand sea lions at Enderby Island
Summary
The New Zealand sea lion (NZ sea lion), Phocarctos hookeri, is New Zealand’s only endemic pinniped. It is classified as Nationally Critical and is estimated to be the world’s rarest sea lion. This report summarises the annual survey 2011-12 of the Auckland Island area with the objective to estimate pup production and collect data to allow quantification and estimation of demographic parameters of all NZ sea lions from the Auckland Islands.
The pup production estimate for the Auckland Island NZ sea lion population in 2011-12 was 1683 ± 16, the third lowest pup production ever reported for this species. Field sightings of previously tagged, branded and/or passive integrated transponder tagged animals were collected and recorded.
Note: This project underwent review by the CSP Technical Working Group on 21 October 2011 and 28 May 2012. Read the detailed reply to comments from the working group (PDF, 41K).