I met my first Australian sea lion on Dangerous Reef, out front Port Lincoln, South Australia. It was also on Dangerous Reef that I saw them butchered, probably for shark burley (bait). One minute they were watching with wide-eyed curiosity and the next they were being shot falling next to their startled pups. Man had once again triumphed ever the innocent and helpless. That happened about 57 years ago and has no doubt been happening ever since.
On 15 January 1975 the Australian sea lions on Dangerous Reef numbered about 60 or 80 animals. Six years before at the same time there had been 200 or more. I know because I counted them myself.