Leopard seal discovers 'fishing hotspot' at boating club in Ōrākei, Auckland

Wednesday, 3 January 2018

Owha the leopard seal was seen basking on a dock at the Outboard Boating club in Auckland.

An antarctic leopard seal has taken up residence at Auckland's Ōrākei boat club.

Ken Millar, 81, a life-long boatie arrived at 10am Tuesday to find a female leopard seal called Owha lounging on the pier of the boat club on Tamaki Drive in Auckland.

Millar said other boaties at the club had given Owha a wide berth all morning allowing her the space to lounge about and fish out of respect.

Ken Millar said boaties had been giving Owha her space.

'We're all seamen you see.'

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Owha was first spotted at the boating club on Tuesday.

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Graham Sibery and Karine Thomas observing Owha from a safe distance.

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Owha had likely been attracted to the boating club because of the large number of fish there.

Giverny Forbes of leopardseals.org setup a 20m protective area around Owha after members of the Outboard Boating Club of Auckland reported her presence.

Forbes said Owha had mainly been seen around Westhaven in Auckland, and Northland in the past.

Karine Thomas was one of two or three club members watching Owha from a safe distance.

At first she thought signs informing people of a sea leopard at the club were some sort of joke.

'You don't even have to go to Kelly Tarlton's, I can just come down here.'

Leopard seals, named for their leopard-like markings, usually live in Antarctic waters, but new research shows they visit New Zealand waters more often than previously thought.

They are the second largest species of seal after the elephant seal, and are second only to killer whales as Antarctic apex predators.

The usually solitary creatures can live up to 15 years, and can weigh up to 600 kilograms.

Dr. Ingrid Vissir, who is also involved in Department of Conservation efforts to track leopard seals, says Aucklanders are lucky to be able to see a mammal right in the middle of their city that people from around the world fly thousands of miles to Antarctica to see.

Vissir said the boating club had likely been a 'little fishing hotspot' for Owha.

Algae often built up under the pontoons at boating clubs, Vissir said.

This attracted a lot of fish but members of boating clubs often weren't allowed to fish off pontoons.

Owha however wasn't bound by such rules and could easily sidle up to the pier then dive down into the water when she felt hungry.

Thomas said she could see Owha eyeing the large fish in the water from her spot on the pier.

'All she needs now is a gin and tonic and she'll be happy,' Thomas said.

The public are urged to report sightings of the seals to DOC at 0800 DOC HOT and/or leopardseals.org at 0800 LEOPARD.