There is industry and community concerns about the potential economic and ecological impact that seals are having on waterbirds, fish populations, and on the broader Lakes and Coorong ecosystem. There is a need for reliable, quantitative information on the nature and extent of these impacts.

To this end this project will assess:

• the economic impact of seal interactions on Lakes and Coorong commercial gillnet fishers;
• the ecological impacts of seals on the Lower Lakes and Coorong ecosystem;
• the spatial and temporal use of the Lower Lakes and Coorong region by seals to identify key haul-outs, movement corridors, foraging areas and overlap with fishing effort; and finally will

• identify options to manage seal numbers and evaluate their costs and benefits to mitigate their impacts.

  This information will support processes to identify, prioritise and develop practicable and cost-effective long-term policy/management strategies to manage long-nosed fur seal numbers.