Sea lion test to probe declines

By Pallab GhoshScience correspondent, BBC News, Vancouver

Canadian researchers have trained sea lions to take part in an experiment designed to find out why the species is dying out.

The team strapped cameras and tracking equipment onto endangered Steller sea lions to see how they dived for food.

Early results from the project indicate that overfishing might not be the main factor in their decline as had previously been thought.

Male Steller sea lions measure 3m (10ft) and weigh more than 950kg.

This makes them the biggest of all sea lions.

These marine mammals once thrived on the shores of the North Pacific ocean. Now their numbers have dwindled to around 100,000. But no one knows why they are dying out.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17051429

New Zealand fishing policy threatens seabird populations

BirdLife speaks out on New Zealand seabird by-catch September 2011. BirdLife International has joined forces with its New Zealand Partner, Forest & Bird, to remind their government there of its responsibilities towards reducing the toll of seabirds in the country's fisheries.

New Zealand's Ministry of Fisheries recently released a draft seabird by-catch policy to replace a National Plan of Action for Seabirds. The draft policy offers no concrete steps to reduce the by-catch of seabirds, which in a risk assessment report done for the ministry is estimated at between 22,200 and 40,900 annually within New Zealand's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The risk assessment estimates 21 of the 64 seabird species examined are at risk from the level of incidental by-catch.

BirdLife International and Forest & Bird made a joint submission to the ministry on the draft policy. BirdLife International's Global Seabird Programme head Dr Ben Sullivan said:

"New Zealand has an international responsibility to develop a National Plan of Action to reduce seabird by-catch in its fisheries".

Parkinson's petrel most at risk
The most at risk species is the endemic Parkinson's Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni - classified as Vulnerable by BirdLife on behalf of the IUCN Red List - with the average number of potential annual fishing-related fatalities estimated to be nearly ten times higher than the level that can be sustained without risking extinction.

Although some gains have been made in deep sea fishing through mandatory mitigation measures, inshore fisheries do not require mandatory mitigation, observer coverage is low and potentially large numbers of albatrosses, petrels, king shags and spotted shags may be killed.

Sea lions
Squid trawling near the Sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands not only directly kills New Zealand sea lions but also competes for their food and this is believed to have contributed to the halving of the number of pups since 1998.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/nz-bycatch.html

Sea Lion Found At School, Miles From Water

BRENTWOOD, Calif. -- A wayward sea lion was rescued near Brentwood Saturday after wandering a couple of miles away from any source of water.


Officials don't know how the 170-pound female sea lion ended up at an elementary school in the town of Knightsen, but it was first spotted on Delta road.

The Contra Costa Sheriff's Department corralled her in at the school until volunteers with the Marine Mammal Center arrived.

Also on scene were curious residents who ventured out to get a good look at the sea lion

“It's cool! We're the Knightsen sea lions now!,” said some children watching the spectacle.

The marine mammal center says the sea lion is named Na'au and has actually rescued her once before.

Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the center says the 5-year-old female sea lion was about two miles away from the closest source of water when it was rescued.

Oswald says the sea lion was previously rescued in May, then again in June, in Santa Cruz County.

While it's being cared for, Oswald says the animal will undergo testing to see if it's suffering from domoic acid poisoning, an illness caused when sea lions eat fish that have consumed toxic algae.

Sea Lion Found At School, Miles From Water

BRENTWOOD, Calif. -- A wayward sea lion was rescued near Brentwood Saturday after wandering a couple of miles away from any source of water.


Officials don't know how the 170-pound female sea lion ended up at an elementary school in the town of Knightsen, but it was first spotted on Delta road.

The Contra Costa Sheriff's Department corralled her in at the school until volunteers with the Marine Mammal Center arrived.

Also on scene were curious residents who ventured out to get a good look at the sea lion

“It's cool! We're the Knightsen sea lions now!,” said some children watching the spectacle.

The marine mammal center says the sea lion is named Na'au and has actually rescued her once before.

Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the center says the 5-year-old female sea lion was about two miles away from the closest source of water when it was rescued.

Oswald says the sea lion was previously rescued in May, then again in June, in Santa Cruz County.

While it's being cared for, Oswald says the animal will undergo testing to see if it's suffering from domoic acid poisoning, an illness caused when sea lions eat fish that have consumed toxic algae.

Sea lion mystery: pup found on surfer's rooftop deck

A sea lion pup was found playing on a rooftop deck on Newport Beach in a case that has surfers scratching their heads.

Published: 11:35AM BST 23 Apr 2010

Mike Kai thought one of his surfing buddies was thumping around on his deck, and was shocked to discover the wayward sea lion pup, enjoying the view of the beach at sunrise.

Mr Kai said he could not imagine how the animal made it up the stairs and onto the roof early on Thursday.

While Mr Kai called Animal Control, the pup showed off, wiggling along a railing on his belly, two stories above the ground.

The sea lion was taken to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, where volunteers named him Fiddler, after the Broadway musical "Fiddler on the Roof".

Staff there say he is underweight, probably because he was recently weaned and having trouble finding food on his own.

They say sea lions are mobile and curious, and have been found everywhere from a restaurant kitchen to a public lavatory.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7623459/Sea-lion-mystery-pup-found-on-surfers-rooftop-deck.html

Galapagos sea lions head for warm Peru waters

Monday, 8 February 2010
By Dan Collyns
BBC News, Lima

A colony of sea lions endemic to the Galapagos Islands have moved 1,500km away, a Peru-based organisation which monitors the aquatic mammals has said.

The Organisation for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Animals says the sea lions have swum to northern Peru because of rising temperatures.

It says the temperature rise was caused by climate change.

Experts say it is the first time that Galapagos sea lions have set up a colony outside the islands.

The monitors say the water temperature in Piura, off the coast of northern Peru, has risen from 17C to 23C over the last 10 years.

The temperature is much closer to the sea temperature around the Galapagos Islands, which averages about 25C.

Now that the conditions of the sea around northern Peru are so similar to the Galapagos, they say, even more sea lions and other new marine species could start arriving.

Like so many native species in the Galapagos Islands, the sea lions are unique to the archipelago, located about 600 miles west of continental Ecuador.

Ever since the English naturalist, Charles Darwin, first visited the islands more than 150 years ago, they have become known as a living museum of evolution.

Now, thanks to global warming, that unique ecosystem could face unprecedented changes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8503397.stm
(Submitted by Liz R)