Determining conservation actions and priorities for the most north-westerly Australian sea lion population

The Australian sea lion (Neophoca Cinerea) (ASL) population is rapidly declining, subject to numerous threats such as commercial fishery interactions, disease, habitat modification, bioaccumulation of pollutants and climate change. Australian sea lions live across 4000 kms of southern and western Australian coast-line in temperate and sub-tropical locations (see figure 1 map). Their atypical lifehistory and colonial population structure across different environments poses significant management challenges. Not only do sub-populations encounter differences in environmental conditions but also different pressures based on their location. Exploring the biological variation between colonies can help discover the predominant cause of decline and threats to address. This research will examine the genetic structure of the largely isolated, most north-westerly population of Australian sea lions. It will reveal landscape use by sea lions in this area which will directly determine where management can best focus their conservation actions.