Otariidae have been exploited for meat and blubber and have been persecuted by the fishing industry as a pest and have suffered as a result of incidental bye-catch and entanglement in nets.
This family includes fourteen species, most of which live in southern oceans, along the coasts of southern south America, Africa, and Australia as well as New Zealand and islands farther south. Just four species occur north of the equator (all in the Pacific Ocean), including the California sea lion, which lives on both sides of the equator.
The family Otariidae includes sixteen species that are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as facing a threat to their survival. Details of the species and their status is as follows:Status: ExtinctJapanese Sea LionStatus: EndangeredAustralian Sea LionGalápagos Fur SealGalápagos Sea LionStatus: Near ThreatenedGuadalupe Fur SealJuan Fernández Fur SealSteller Sea LionStatus: VulnerableNew Zealand Sea LionNorthern Fur SealStatus: Least ConcernAfro-Australian Fur SealAntarctic Fur SealCalifornian Sea LionNew Zealand Fur SealSouth American Fur SealSouth American Sea LionSubantarctic Fur SealCITES lists the species as "Appendix I".