Eumetopias jubatus

Abstract

In previous IUCN evaluations, Steller Sea Lions have been treated as a single species. The species was listed as two separate stocks (officially called “distinct population segments”) under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1997 based on the phylogeographic method (Loughlin 1997). Although the strongest evidence for stock separation at the time was the distribution of mtDNA haplotypes across the range, a divergence in population trend was also apparent. Phillips et al. (2009) published a manuscript that argued for subspecies designation for the two stocks based on morphological and genetic studies. The Society for Marine Mammalogy Committee on Taxonomy subsequently recognized two subspecies of Eumetopias jubatus; E. j. jubatus commonly known as the Western Steller Sea Lion, and E. j. monteriensis, commonly known as Loughlin’s Steller Sea Lion (Committee on Taxonomy 2014). The Pinniped Specialists Group has assessed the two subspecies independently. This assessment combines the assessments for the subspecies and reports the status of the entire species