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The following is the text of the Final Report on this project as presented to the Brian Mason Scientific & Technological Trust.
Supporting graphs and photographs are courtesy of Laura Boren of the University of Canterbury, who carried out fieldwork for this project.
Project title
Assessing the Impacts of Tourism on Fur Seals
Project leader
Dr. Neil J. Gemmell
Contact address: Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch
Address where project can be viewed: Department of Zoology
Project aim
To examine if ecotourism activities impact on fur seal behaviour
Key objectives
To determine how fur seal behaviour is modified in response to tourism activities. Specifically we will identify what fur seal responses are directly attributable to tourist activities, which responses are significant in terms of the ecology and behaviour of fur seals, and what management measures we might introduce to minimise the detrimental effects of tourist disturbance on fur seals.
Summary of key results/achievements
Fur seal colonies at Kaikoura, Tonga Island and Banks Peninsula reflecting a spectrum of visitor density, type of tourism, and anticipated fur seal sensitivity were studied during the Austral summers of 1999/2000 and 2000/2001. The behaviours of seals at all three sites were observed using focal animal and instantaneous scan sampling, while attributes of tourist approaches were tested experimentally using controlled approaches by land, kayak and powerboat. The following factors were manipulated: distance, noise, approach frequency and the size of group approaching.
Instantaneous scans showed that fur seals exhibit significant changes in behaviour in response to tourist disturbance, while controlled approaches indicate that fur seals respond more strongly to land-based approaches than sea-based approaches. The response of seals to different types of approaches also varied by site with more avoidance responses displayed at the control site. These results collectively indicate that fur seals are changing their behaviour in response to tourist activities and that seals will habituate over time in areas of high tourist activity, suggesting that current management guidelines are not preventing negative impacts in tourist-fur seal interactions and need to be revised.
In keeping with the wishes of the Trust this research has been disseminated widely at public and scientific meetings, in the popular press, and in scientific publications. Notable among these are two scientific papers currently in review with Australian Mammalogy, a comprehensive research report currently under review by the Department of Conservation, and an M.Sc. thesis completed by my student Laura Boren.