Rare sea lion joins New Zealand endangered species list

The New Zealand sea lion, one of the world's rarest sea lions, is officially endangered, said scientists Wednesday, and government action is needed to prevent its extinction.

Massey University marine mammal specialist Dr Louise Chilvers contributed to the international conservation report finding that changed the status of New Zealand sea lions from vulnerable to endangered.

The species met the endangered criteria according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) pinniped (seal) specialist group when it was updating the IUCN Red List -- the list that detailed the conservation status of plant and animal species.

Many factors were contributing to the species' decline, including disease, habitat modification by fishing, resource competition with commercial fisheries and accidental death as a result of bycatch, Chilvers said in a statement.

In addition, commercial hunting in the early 19th Century had already put the species at a disadvantage.

She hoped the list would encourage the government into action to stop the sea lion decline.

"New Zealand sea lion numbers have declined by 50 percent in the last 15 years. If they continue to decline at this rate they will be extinct in our life time," she said.

The Department of Conservation puts New Zealand sea lion numbers at about 10,000, with the biggest populations in the sub- Antarctic islands.

The New Zealand government has come under increasing pressure to do more to protect its unique marine mammals.

The Maui's dolphin -- the world's smallest dolphin -- is estimated to have a population of about 50 and declining. Endi