Sea Lions and Fur Seals in Australia

Diving with Australian sea lions is the best animal encounter in Australian water, and that is not a close call. Sharks are impressive and whale sharks are enormous, but neither will swim upside down under your mask, blow bubbles at you, and come back four more times to see if you will play. Sea lions and fur seals appear at 15 of the sites we cover, concentrated in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, and the encounter is unlike anything else on this list.

## Three animals, not one

Australian divers meet three pinnipeds, and they are genuinely different.

The **Australian sea lion** (*Neophoca cinerea*) is the important one. It is Australia's only endemic pinniped, found nowhere else on earth, with roughly 85 percent of the population in South Australia and the rest in Western Australia. Adults are pale fawn to silver, with males developing a distinctive whitish crown. They are the most playful and the most endangered.

The **Australian fur seal** (*Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus*) is the Bass Strait animal, common through Victoria and Tasmania. Larger, darker and more robust, with a pointed muzzle and visible external ear flaps.

The **long-nosed fur seal** (*Arctocephalus forsteri*), still widely called the New Zealand fur seal, overlaps with both across southern Australia.

Telling fur seals from sea lions underwater is easiest by movement and shape: fur seals are darker, sleeker and faster, with a noticeably pointed snout, while Australian sea lions are paler and blunter-faced.

## An endangered animal that most divers do not realise is endangered

The Australian sea lion is in serious trouble. Numbers have fallen by more than 60 percent in four decades, and in 2021 the species was uplisted from vulnerable to endangered under Australian law. The total population is estimated at fewer than 12,000 animals.

The reason it has not recovered like the fur seals is reproductive. Australian sea lions breed on an unusual cycle of roughly one pup every 17.5 months rather than annually, and the breeding is not synchronised between colonies. Pup mortality in the first five months reaches 45 percent at some large colonies. A species that slow to reproduce recovers slowly from anything.

The main modern threat is bycatch, particularly drowning in gillnets set for shark. Fur seals, by contrast, were hunted to about 20,000 animals in the 1800s and have since rebuilt substantially.

This context matters when you are in the water with them. You are diving with a genuinely threatened endemic species, and the colonies you visit are a meaningful share of what is left.

## Where to dive with them

**South Australia** is the heartland for Australian sea lions. [Baird Bay Reef](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/baird-bay-reef) and [Point Labatt](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/point-labatt) on the West Coast are the classics, with the offshore [Investigator Group](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/investigator-group) and [Pearson Isles](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/pearson-isles) holding significant colonies. [Seal Bay](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/seal-bay-snorkel-area) on Kangaroo Island is the best-known site of all.

**Victoria** delivers fur seals in Port Phillip. [Pope's Eye](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/popes-eye) and [Lonsdale Wall](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/lonsdale-wall) both offer encounters, and [Ex-HMAS Canberra](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/ex-hmas-canberra) adds them to a wreck dive.

**Tasmania** is outstanding and underrated. [Ile des Phoques](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/ile-des-phoques) off Freycinet is exactly what its name suggests, and [Hippolyte Rocks](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/hippolyte-rocks) and [Waterfall Bay](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/waterfall-bay) on the Tasman Peninsula are both excellent.

**NSW** has one reliable option: [Montague Island](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/montague-island) off Narooma, the most accessible seal dive on the east coast.

**Western Australia** adds the [Houtman Abrolhos Islands](https://www.scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/houtman-abrolhos-islands).

## How to get a good encounter

The counterintuitive rule is that chasing guarantees failure. These animals are vastly faster and more manoeuvrable than you, and pursuit signals predator rather than playmate.

What works is being interesting and stationary. Hang in mid-water, stay still, and let curiosity do the work. Juveniles are the bold ones and will usually approach first. Rolling slowly, spiralling gently or making unhurried movements often triggers mimicry, and a young sea lion will copy a diver and then improve on the manoeuvre. Keep your hands in and never reach out to touch. Shallow is better than deep, since most play happens in the top 10 metres where the light is good anyway.

Bull fur seals during the breeding season are a different proposition. A large territorial male is a powerful animal, and open-mouth displays or fast direct approaches mean back off and give it room.

## Diving responsibly around colonies

Approach colonies by boat slowly and never haul out or land on a breeding beach. Give hauled-out animals space, particularly females with pups, and remember that a startled colony stampeding into the water can crush pups. Follow the local operator's rules, since most of these sites sit inside marine parks or sanctuary zones with specific approach conditions.

Given the Australian sea lion's status, the single most useful thing a diver can do is choose operators who follow approach guidelines properly and support the marine parks that protect the breeding colonies.

## Sources

- [DCCEEW, Seals and sea lions](https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/marine/marine-species/seals-and-sea-lions) - [Australian Marine Conservation Society, Australian Sea Lions](https://www.marineconservation.org.au/australian-sea-lions/) - [Australian Museum, Australian Fur Seal](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/australian-fur-seal/) - [Parks SA, About Australian sea lions](https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/experiences/seal-bay/australian-sea-lion/about-australian-sea-lions)