A seal colony on Taumaka Island, one of the Open Bay islands off the Haast River, West Coast

The high seal numbers and the ease with which they could be chased and killed are evident in this recent photograph of a sealing ground much frequented in the early nineteenth century. In 1989 zoologists by chance discovered the stone walls/foundations of a sealers' hut in the darker coloured shrubs at top centre. It may date from as early as the 1790s.