The late 18th and early 19th century sealing industry in the Southern Hemisphere resembled a gold rush, with ships from numerous countries competing to locate and harvest seals before they were found by others (Falla 1962, Cumpston 1973, Clark 1882, Busch 1985). A feature of the “rush” was that few records were kept of the kinds and numbers of the seals, which prevents a sound understanding of species abundances and distributions prior to the sealing era. Recently, populations of many fur seal species have increased dramatically (Boyd 1993, Shaughnessy and McKeown 2002, Kirkwood et al. 2005, Hofmeyr et al. 2006, Kirkman et al. 2007). The increases may be due to recovery from harvest, reduced lethal interactions with humans, ecosystem changes, or a combination of these factors (Boyd 1993, Arnould et al. 2003). In a world where fishing industries strive to maximize sustainable harvests and conservation groups attempt to conserve ecosystems, there is some speculation about the final outcome of seal population increases (Goldsworthy et al. 2003); could the seals reach or overshoot preharvest levels and could their distributions differ to those prior to harvesting? In this light, it is important to critically examine historic, presealing and sealing data to properly understand species habitat requirements and ranges. Bass Strait in southeastern Australia is bounded by the Victorian coast to the north, the mainland Tasmanian coast to the south, and the 200-m depth contour to the east and west (Fig. 1). Prior to the sealing, four seal species occupied Bass Strait: a “brown” fur seal (Australian fur seal, AUFS, Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus); a “black” fur seal with “high quality fur” (New Zealand fur seal, NZFS, A. forsteri); a “hair seal” (Australian sea lion, Neophoca cinerea); and the “sea elephant” (southern