Journal
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
Volume 47, Issue 3, Pages 335-340Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2008.00966.x
Keywords
Arctocephalus pusillus; Cape fur seal; Cape gannet; culling; fledgling mortality; Morus capensis; predation
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Funding
- Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) Programme [LMR/EAF/03/02]
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In the 2006/2007 breeding season of Cape gannets Morus capensis at Malgas Island, the removal of 61 Cape fur seals Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus that preyed on gannet fledglings when they left to sea significantly reduced the mortality rate of these fledglings. However, because seals learned to avoid the boat used for their removal, it was not possible to remove all the seals that killed gannet fledglings and some mortality continued. The seals inflicting the mortality were all sub-adult males, with an average age of < 5 years. Sustained removal of these animals may reduce this feeding behaviour, which is at present having an adverse impact on several threatened seabirds in the Benguela ecosystem.
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