In the 1930s the Falkland Islands were reputed to hold the largest population of Southern sea lions, with a staggering 80,000 pups estimated to be born each year. However, a census in the 1960s and again in the 1990s revealed the population had declined by more than 90%.
The Centenary Scholarship which marks the 100th Anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans- Antarctic Endurance expedition has been awarded to Dr Alastair Baylis, an Australian scientist, for his sea lion project: “Rediscovering Falklands Ocean Sentinels”.