Former Victor Harbor Mayor calls for long nose fur seal cull to protect Granite Island penguins

Culling seals around Victor Harbor may be the only way to protect Granite Island’s vulnerable little penguin colony, a former mayor says — but the experts disagree.

Experts say there is no evidence to suggest culling seals would protect penguins.

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Calls for a seal cull have resurfaced in a bid to protect Granite Island’s vulnerable little penguin colony, as part of a State Government investigation into overabundant species.

Former Victor Harbor mayor Graham Philp says the State Government should consider culling long-nosed fur seals to safeguard Victor Harbor’s penguins.

But a Flinders University ecology expert says the measure would likely achieve “absolutely nothing” to boost the penguin population because they rarely ate the birds.

The last census found 44 little penguins nesting on Granite Island — up from 28 in 2017.

In 2001, there were more than 1000 in the area.

Mr Philp, chairman of the Save Granite Island Penguins group, said the long-nosed fur seal’s population had “exploded” in SA, believing their predation upon little penguins was one of the Granite Island colony’s biggest threats.

State Parliament’s Natural Resources Committee is conducting an inquiry into managing “overabundant” species.

“I believe a cull of the long-nosed fur seal in the Coorong could give us a much better understanding on what changes in these waters would occur with the (seals) no longer feeding off the fish and birds,” Mr Philp said.

Mr Philp said he had seen numerous research reports that showed long nosed-fur seals were a threat to local penguins.

He also wants a breeding program based around the island’s former penguin centre.

This Long-nosed Fur Seal which has made Ettalong its home for the week. July 2018

However, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology Corey Bradshaw said it was “extremely rare” for seals to eat penguins.

“The likelihood of any cull ever being to a sufficient scale that would remotely affect the survival of penguins is almost zero,” Professor Bradshaw said.

“In other words, you’d have to kill every seal out there. It’s a fools errand.

“There is no ecological justification whatsoever to do a cull like that.”

Professor Bradshaw said a combination of fishing and climate change was likely to be impacting the penguin colony.

Calls were also made for a cull in 2012 and 2015, amid claims seals were stealing fishermen’s catches in the Coorong.

A little penguin at Granite Island, taken during the 2018 census. Picture: Maddie Turley

“It’s been shown time and time again for 50 years that seal culls do absolutely nothing for the recovery of any population, fish or otherwise,” Professor Bradshaw said.

Victor Harbor Mayor Moira Jenkins said an “evidence-based approach” was needed to tackle issues around the penguin population.

Oceanic Victor runs little the island’s penguin tours, and owner Mick Dyer favoured teaching visitors to be more mindful of how their own behaviour might threaten the birds.

That included people bringing dogs onto the island, standing too close and intimidating them and shining torches at burrows, temporarily blinding the birds.

“Come 10 o’clock when our tour is over you’ll see a flock of people coming over at 10.30pm or 11pm,” he said.

“We’d like to put up some signage to educate people to please just have a look and then keep on walking — let them be.”

An Environment Department spokeswoman said dietary studies indicated fish and cephalopods, such as squid and octopus, made up more than 95 per cent of the long-nosed fur seal diets, with sharks, crustaceans and birds making up the remainder.

Research was exploring seals’ impact on little penguins.

“Long-nosed fur seals and little penguins are two components of a complex ecosystem and the impact of a cull is not known,” the spokeswoman said.

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