THE NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) welcomes the unprecedented numbers of seal pups born to Australian and New Zealand fur seals living on Montague Island.
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NPWS Discovery Coordinator for Montague Island Cassandra Bendixsen says the seal pups are proving a hit with visitors.
“With their big black eyes and playfulness, this year’s seal pups are keeping cameras snapping as boats arrive at and depart from Montague Island,” she said.
“Little Penguin spotting is only available at dusk when the birds come ashore, but nobody has ever visited Montague Island without having an up close experience with seals.”
Far South Coast ranger Ross Constable says Montague Island, located off Narooma, is mainly home to male seals, but the population is always changing and pups have recently been spotted frolicking near the shore.
“Montague Island is rocky and has little shelter on its shoreline, so it’s fairly treacherous for young seals and not colonised as a breeding ground,” Mr Constable said.
“This year, however, we have spotted more than a dozen seal pups on Montague Island, compared to just a handful say five years ago.
“Male fur-seals reach sexual maturity after nine years of age and may have a harem of up to 12 females.
“In the Bass Strait breeding colonies, less mature and less competitive males are driven to distant bachelor colonies like Montague Island.
“Seals born here do have a high mortality rate due to the ocean swells, rocky shoreline and the risk of being crushed by fighting males.
“Those pups that survive either stay on Montague or move between the haul-out or breeding colonies in Bass Strait, or off south-eastern Australia.
Another shift on Montague Island has been increased numbers of New Zealand or long nosed fur-seals, which tend to be more aggressive and less communal compared to their Australian cousin.
“New Zealand fur seals also predate on little penguins, which nest on Montague, but the annual sea bird census indicates that this is not adversely affecting Little Penguin numbers,” he said.
“Unlimited commercial hunting of Australian Fur Seals began in 1800 for their oil, meat and skins, and more than 200,000 animals were taken before they became protected in 1974 under the National Parks & Wildlife Act.
“The south-eastern populations of Australian Fur Seals are still recovering from intensive hunting but it is encouraging to see signs that populations are slowly increasing,” Mr Constable said.
The Australian fur seals are concentrated on the northern tip of the island, while their New Zealand cousins haul out along the western edge and southern tip.
NPWS is aware of interactions between seals and anglers targeting kingfish and is keeping an eye on the situation.
Visitor numbers also increasing
WHILE seal pup numbers are booming, so too are the numbers of visitors increasing under the new visitation regime at Montague Island.
Six charter boats are now able to drop off visitors with two additional field officers permanently based on the island to act as tour guides.
The number of paying passengers landing Montague Island has risen from 940 from December 2010 to February 2011 to 1050 in the same period December 2011 to February 2012.
Over the same period, the number of boat trips landing passengers Montague Island had increased from 59 to 104.
“We were thrilled with the increase in passenger numbers on Montague Island (especially considering the weather over the summer made the bar regularly impassable),” Ms Bendixsen said.
“More importantly, in a small town in which tourism plays such an important economic role, NPWS was thrilled to see the huge increase in numbers of contracted boat operators disembarking passengers at Montague Island.
“This helps ensure the economic viability of both the new business model on Montague Island, and on a local level plays the important role of supporting small tourism businesses.”
