SUPPLIED Steve and Megan Brynes were ferrying their children to school when they spotted a fur seal making its way down SH25A near Hikuai . In the past month, a fur seal has been spotted on a whitebait stand at Elbow Reserve 15km from Port Waikato, one swam up the river to Okoroire from the Hauraki Gulf, one at the Mercer boat ramp, and another in Manu Bay, Raglan. “Fur seal populations have recovered significantly in New Zealand,” Boren said. “In the 16th to 18th centuries they were hunted to near extinction, but where they were still able hold on was on offshore islands down south.”