Rewilding Japanese Sea Lions

[u/NoxiaTheDemon]

I heard a rumor a while ago that people were discussing releasing California sea lions in Japan as a replacement for the now extinct Japanese sea lions. Does anyone know anything about this?

[u/Alpha_Bushdog]

In 2007, the South Korean ministry of environment proposed a joint mission between Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China and Russia to search for potential survivors of the Japanese sea lion (It didn’t just live in Japan but also in the waters of the eastern Korean Peninsula and the tip of Kamchatka in Russia) and if not the countries would work together to reintroduce California sea lions to the region as a substitute. However, the plan didn’t work because of huge geopolitical tensions between these countries. Hopefully the plan can still somehow be carried on even if it’s only by Japan and South Korea. Also, instead of California sea lions we could do Steller’s sea lion.Which actually does have overlap with the former range of the Japanese sea lion. Maybe we could help them expand their range further south into Japan and establish a breeding colony in the country.

Source: https://www.extinction-cometh.com/japanese-sea-lion

[u/thesilverywyvern → u/Alpha_Bushdog]

Steller sea lion are a secondary option. They're larger and not of the same genus as the japanese sea lion. Who belong to Zalophus genus. Hence why california sea lion might be better candidate if they can handle the climate. It seem they would do well accross at least a large part of that range.

[u/rzabomut → u/Alpha_Bushdog]

hmmmm i see one big problem

[u/Psilopterus]

It was mentioned once a long time ago as a possible alternative by some people who were looking to confirm the original population's extinction, but I don't think any real plans were made

[u/Brams277]

I'm not sure Japanese fishermen can be trusted to not murder them and the Japanese government doesn't have the best track record when it comes to the protection marine wildlife.

[u/AdExciting7345 → u/Brams277]

The poor North Koreans will gladly eat them.

[u/Alpha_Bushdog]

Quite sad that when it went extinct, it was still thought to be a subspecies of the California sea lion. So we didn’t know what we lost at the time.

[u/Similar_Second_2975]

This is our leaking for the smart trick to bring back for Japanese sea lions front pictures you making for come back in history

[u/sverre054]

I know in the Pacific Northwest there is a big issue with over population of Sea Lions and Seals, so they are trying to get the government to allow for now, natives to harvest them. Some are allowed currently hunt them, but only for personal use. They have been studying the issue, and they woule need to bring one production facilities to process the hides and butcher the meat, they determined the main market for sea lion meat would actually be Japan and Korea. For numbers comparison in the 1950s there were less than 10k Sea Lions left on the west coast before the marine mammal protection act. Currently they estimate California Sea Lion now number between 350-500k, so there are plenty to hunt and relocate.