4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015
Pinnipeds: Port only wants to keep sea lions from damaging its docks
Continued from Page 1A
in October showed a decrease
in chinook salmon survival
from 90 percent in 2010 to 55
percent in 2014. It compared
the decrease in survival with
a more than 670 percent in-
crease in sea lion populations
counted by ODFW in Astoria
between March 15 and May
15 over the same years.
Sea lion marina
Amid the issues of sea lion
predation, the Port has main-
tained it only wants to keep
sea lions from damaging its
docks, estimating more than
$100,000 in damage to utili-
ties and the docks themselves
from sea lions.
It has removed docks, dis-
connected utilities from the
two that the sea lions inhabit
and strung brightly colored
surveying tape, which has
effectively dissuaded the an-
imals from jumping onto the
two docks with boats still tied
to them.
“There’s a public health is-
sue,” said Permit and Project
Manager Robert Evert about
fecal coliform in the water
and the mounds of feces with
the ringworm fungus that Port
staff clean up off docks.
The Port has looked into
galvanized steel railings —
for years now — to keep sea
lions from jumping up on
docks. There is about 5,000
feet to cover on the Port’s
three docks at the basin, Oper-
ations Manager Matt McGrath
said at a March 17 Port Com-
mission meeting. The railings
have worked in San Diego,
but would cost $50,000. Evert
added the Port will be meet-
ing with Smith-Root Fisheries
Technology next week, which
creates a low-voltage matting
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
A branded sea lion rests on a dock in the East Mooring Basin.
Branding the sea lions allow various groups to track them.
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Sea lions and seals rest on the docks of the East Mooring Basin Tuesday. The East Moor-
ing Basin has four docks, two for boats and two for sea lions.
for docks that is uncomfort-
able for sea lions.
In defense of sea lions
For several years, the Sea
Lion Defense Brigade has
kept a regular presence at the
basin, monitoring ODFW’s
trapping and branding and re-
porting on its Facebook page.
Members snap photos of vis-
itors who drop by to see sea
lions and regularly attend Port
meetings to testify on behalf
of pinnipeds.
“I want to talk about shar-
ing on the second biggest
river in North America,”
Ninette Jones, brigade mem-
ber, told the Port Commission
March 17, after being told she
couldn’t comment a second
time on sea lions.
Brigade members see sea
lions as a scapegoat for larg-
er issues, such as pollution,
Sea lion survey
The Washington Dept. of Fish
and Wildlife is conducting
surveys of pinnipeds along
the lower Columbia River.
California sea lions observed
since Feb. 11:
2,340
(East Mooring
Basin, Astoria)
1,649
1,256
1,211
Source: Wash. Dept.
of Fish and Wildlife
Feb. 11 Feb. 20 Mar. 2 Mar. 20
EO Media Group graphic
climate change, overfish-
ing and thousands of miles
of blocked fish passages.
They’ve claimed that Sea
Shepherd Conservation So-
ciety once offered to pay for
a sea lion haul-out, although
the Port has previously de-
nied being offered fund-
ing. Regardless of whether
they’re hauling out on Port
docks or their own haul-out,
Evert said, letting them on
docks is akin to domesticat-
ing a wild animal.
The Port started shutting
down the causeway to the East
End Mooring Basin when
ODFW is trapping and brand-
ing sea lions to track them, a
practice authorized in 2012
by NOAA and not as deadly
as the euthanizations at Bon-
neville Dam, but nonetheless
controversial. Tensions over
the practice came to a near
boiling point Feb. 18, accord-
ing to ODFW.
Sea lions adapt to changing climate
a few days at a time before
returning to the rookeries to
nurse their pups.
But the unusually warm
water has apparently shifted
the distribution of their prey,
making it harder for females
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NOAA Northwest Fisheries
the nutritional needs of their
Science Center
pups. Their hungry pups, it
now appears, are struggling to
In Southern California hun- gain weight and have begun
dreds of starving sea lion pups striking out from the rooker-
are washing up on beaches, ies on their own. Many do not
¿OOLQJ PDULQH PDPPDO FDUH make it and instead wash up
centers that scarcely can hold on shore dead or emaciated.
them all.
Since the early 1970s the
Meanwhile thousands of California sea lion popula-
adult male California sea li- tion underwent unprecedent-
ons are surging into the Pacif- ed growth. The species is
ic Northwest, crowding onto protected by the 1972 Ma-
docks and jetties in coastal rine Mammal Protection Act
communities.
and is estimated to number
How can animals from the about 300,000 along the U.S.
same population be struggling West Coast. But the growth
in one region while thriving has slowed in recent years as
in another? The answer lies ocean conditions have turned
in the division of family re- especially unfavorable for
sponsibilities between male juvenile survival. That could
and female sea lions, and the lead to population declines in
different ways each responds coming years, biologists say.
to an everchanging ocean, ac-
“We are working on data to
cording to the National Oce- look at whether the population
anic and Atmospheric Admin- might be approaching its re-
istration’s Northwest Fisheries source limits,” Melin told re-
Science Center in Seattle.
porters in a recent conference
“We’re seeing the popula- call.
tion adjust to the environment
Sea lions serve as an in-
as the environment changes,” dicator of ocean conditions
said Sharon Melin, a sea lion because they are visible and
ELRORJLVWZLWKWKH¿VKHULHVVFL are sensitive to small environ-
ence center.
mental and ecological chang-
The environmental chang- es, Melin said. The warm
es affecting the sea lions can temperatures may well be
be traced to unusually weak affecting other species in less
winds off the West Coast over obvious ways.
the last year. Without cooling
“There are probably other
winds, scientists say, the Pa- things going on in the ecosys-
FL¿F 2FHDQ ZDUPHG DV PXFK tem we may not be seeing,”
as 2 to 5 degrees Celsius she said.
(35.6 to 41 degrees Farenheit)
Bachelors
above average. What started
Unlike female sea lions,
as a patchwork of warm wa-
ter from Southern California males have no lasting obli-
to Alaska in 2014 has since gations to females or young.
grown into a vast expanse, After mating at the rookeries
affecting everything from in midsummer, they leave
plankton at the bottom of the the rookeries and roam as far
food chain to sea lions near as Oregon, Washington and
Alaska in search of food.
the top.
“The warming is about as
“They’re bachelors,” said
strong as anything in the his- Mark Lowry of the Southwest
torical record,” said Nathan Fisheries Science Center in La
Mantua, who leads the Land- Jolla, California. “They just
scape Ecology Team at the JR ZKHUHYHU WKH\ FDQ WR ¿QG
Southwest Fisheries Science something to eat.”
Center.
Male sea lions search out
prey with high energy con-
Struggle for food
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The Channel Islands rook- as herring and sardines, said
eries where nearly all Califor- Robert DeLong, who leads a
nia sea lions raise their young program to study the Califor-
off Southern California sit in nia Current Ecosystem at the
the middle of the warm ex- Alaska Fisheries Science Cen-
panse. Female sea lions have ter. Increasing numbers have
strong ties to the rookeries. found their way to the mouth
They take foraging trips of of the Columbia River to feed
Females have
trouble feeding
pups when water
gets warmer
on increasingly strong runs of
eulachon, also called smelt,
and have taken up residence
on docks and jetties near As-
toria.
“More sea lions learned
last year and even more will
learn this year that this is a
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Long said of the Columbia
River. “They’ve learned these
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won’t forget that.”
DeLong and Steve Jeffries,
a research biologist with the
Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife, attached
satellite-linked
tracking
tags to 15 sea lions feeding
on salmon near Bremerton
(Wash.) in November and
December. Four of those sea
lions are now at the mouth of
the Columbia, Jeffries said.
Counts around Astoria rose
from a few hundred in January
to nearly 2,000 in February,
exceeding numbers in previ-
ous years at the same time.
The count includes some an-
imals from the eastern stock
of Steller sea lions, removed
from the List of Endangered
and Threatened Wildlife in
2013. The California sea lions
also feed on spring chinook
salmon and steelhead. Some
of the chinook and steelhead
stocks are listed under the
Endangered Species Act and
NOAA Fisheries is working
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sea lion predation.
By the beginning of May,
the male sea lions depart for
the summer breeding season
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Orange ribbon placed along the docks of the East Mooring
Basin have been used successfully as a sea lion deterrent.
‘I want to talk about sharing
on the second biggest river
in North America.’
— Ninette Jones
Sea Lion Defense Brigade member, talking to the Port Commission
after being told she couldn’t comment a second time on sea lions
Sall said a visitor to the
basin had been approached by
a branding protester. The vis-
itor then approached and ha-
rassed the ODFW employee,
she said, before threatening to
grab a shotgun and shoot her.
Sall said ODFW reported the
incident to the Oregon State
Police, which couldn’t be
reached for comment by press
time.
MORE ONLINE
For more information on sea lion strandings, visit
http://tinyurl.com/nxqhwkw
For information on field research in the sea lion rookeries, visit
http://tinyurl.com/no7heje
For information on deterring problem seals and sea lions visit
http://tinyurl.com/khbmfyw
at the rookeries in Southern
California.
³,W¶VOLNHÀLSSLQJDVZLWFK´
DeLong said. “Suddenly it’s
time to go.”
Warm conditions
may continue
The warm expanse of ocean
extends to depths of 60 to 100
meters, Mantua said, and will
likely take months to dissipate
even if normal winds resume.
Biologists expect poor feeding
conditions for California sea
lions will likely continue near
their rookeries while warm
ocean conditions persist. A
more typical spring and sum-
mer with strong and persistent
winds from the north would
cool the water and likely im-
prove foraging conditions
along the West Coast.
The tropical El Niño just
declared by NOAA is one wild
card that may affect West Coast
ocean conditions over the next
year. If the El Niño continues
RU LQWHQVL¿HV WKURXJK LW
would favor winds and ocean
currents that support another
year of warm conditions along
the West Coast.
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