Sea Lions of Fisherman's Wharf Celebrate 20th Anniversary and Welcome Home Party!

The most popular question the public ask about the sea lions is, 'what do you feed them?' said Ann Bower at the Welcome Home and 20th Anniversary party at Pier 39 today.

Of course, the answer is that the sea lions feed themselves! she said. Ann is Director of Education at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, and has been working with Pier 39 ever since the sea lions arrived.
(pic left, with Kathy Paver, Marketing Senior Vice-President with Pier 39)

Another often-asked question is, what caused the sea lions to pick this particular spot, and what causes them to stay?

'No-one's asked them, they haven't told us!' said Ann, but she would offer three answers: the dock is comfortable with floats laid down, sheltered by a harbour wall, and they don't have to swim far for their food.

She was there this morning with other members of the center including Executive Director Jeff Boehm, members of Pier 39, Harbourmaster Sheila Chandor, and staff of Aquarium of the Bay. All were there to share the celebrations of the return of the sea lions and their 20th anniversary with several hundred members of the public.

Alongside, about 200 sea lions paticipated noisily as free hats, Coca Cola and Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water were handed out, along with pieces of a lavish party cake and chocolate cup cakes.

Why are the sea lions so endearingly popular? she was asked by Jan, a freelance radio journalist. 'Because people see something of themselves in them,' she said, adding that she thinks people 'just like big mammals,' evidenced also by the popularity of whales and elephants.

How would she describe sea lions? 'Gregarious, boisterous, enjoying being next to each other...fat and sassy!'

When it comes to being next to each other, anyone who has stood on the pier and watched is struck by not just by 'next to each other' but 'on top of each other!' Yesterday, there were empty rafts galore because of the mass exodus last fall, so the sea lions could each have commanded their own territory, but there they were, stashed and heaped as ever on a few rafts.

'Sack of potatoes,' said Ann. The secret lies in the word 'thigmotactic' - 'you've got to have a lot of letters to get it in scrabble!' The first part, 'thigmo' stems from Greek and means 'to touch'. The second part means 'movement' or 'arranging in order.'

Sea lions are not happy bunnies?!!! unless they touch each other as they flip flop and snoooze, bask and play.

Mostly!  It was noticeable that when the band struck up their equally boisterous tunes, trumpeting and oompahing and drumming out songs like 'Popeye the Sailor Man!' from the top of the pier, that the sea lions responded.

Was it imagination, or did the sea lions really sway, and they did seem particularly lively. Were they catching an air of excitement and responding?

They were not used to the music, said Ann, and were making some response to an unfamiliar sound, but generally more excited? This made her chuckle. There was another reason! Breeding season is approaching, the time when every full-blooded, testosterone-packed male readies himself. Soon, they will migrate south to the Channel Islands, off the south coast of California, and conquer - leaving only 'young juveniles or old boys too tired to care!' Kathy Paver added in her interview. (previous blog)

Which comes back to the touching. Stolid, and proud and alone sat a bruiser of a black sea lion who had elicited squeals of delight from a group of schoolchildren as another sea lion attempted to scramble onto his empty float, and was knocked back into the sea. Some 800 lbs of solid sea lion practising marking out his territory in readiness for a summer of love.

Also there in the colony were small sea lions, but they were not pups, said Ann, rather one-year-olds and maybe some two-year-olds.

And there is always a question about the difference between sea lions and seals:  sea lions have little brown ear-flaps and long, front flippers.

Sea lions are migratory creatures, but the extent of last year's ebb and flow took even the Marine Mammal Center and Pier 39 staff by surprise, said Jeff Boehm, Executive Director of the center. The animals are  'opportunistic feeders'  he said, and 'clearly something changed' but they could not be sure of the whole picture.

Jeff has been quoted in the media as saying that anchovies and sardines attracted a record-sized herd of 1,701 to haul out in K-Dock last October, and that low herring supplies caused an equally dramatic exodus after Thanksgiving. But yesterday, he said while these were factors, it was not necessarily the whole answer.

Many of the sea lions swum north to the Sea Lion Caves in Oregon. Could their return here be linked to overcrowding there? It was possible, he said. Sea lions are dynamic and will simply find food.

After cutting the anniversary cake, Jeff was thrilled with the party and seeing, he said, the excitement that people had being around wild animals. Pier 39 was a 'significant urban center' and also offered a 'significant opportunity' to encourage people to care about animals and the environment, he also said.

Visiting the city for a few days from Tampa, Florida, were friends Richard and Jan. 'We just came to look at the sea lions. We had no clue about party cake!' said Jan. This was her first trip to the city, and Richard's, the first for 20 years.

'I think they're great!' said Jan, of the sea lions.

Sitting on the pier was Shari with her five-year-old son, Miles.

'I've been keeping up with them. I grew up in San Francisco, and it's good to see them back,' she said.

Shari remembers their arrival, three months after the Loma Prieta earthquake in October, 1989. She also remembers the day of the quake. She was on her way upstairs when the house shook, and her aunt had crossed the Bay Bridge from Oakland just minutes before a section of it collapsed.

Miles, too, was excited with the sea lions and their party.

Had he known there was a party? 'Yes!'

Did he like the sea lions? 'Yes!'

Did he like the cake? 'Yes!'

It was a positive day all round!

Entertainment continued on the pier with traditonal fun with Scott, one of their street performers, and Salty. New to the scene with a digital twist was Prasant Mohapatra, Co-Founder of Mapiz, a free 'app' with a 'Save the Sea Lions' game.

Players save the sea lions from dangers ranging from environmental to killer whales and sharks, and each day at 9 pm a winner is awarded two free tickets for rides on the Rocket Boat in the bay.

The start-up company provides location-based gaming, and Pier 39 are only their third customer. Mapiz.com also sends out 'near casts' - info to people in close range letting them know, for example, that a party is happening on Pier 39!

Marine Mammal Center Adopt 'Stand Down' Strategy for Entangled Pier 39 Sea Lion

The Marine Mammal Center are changing their rescue strategy of the entangled Pier 39 sea lion as rescue efforts 'may be causing more harm than good,' center spokesman Jim Oswald said in the wake of another two failed rescue attempts today.
Instead of attempting to capture the animal, rescuers at Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, are going to 'stand down' and give the dehydrated and malnourished animal some space.

There have now been seven failed rescue attempts since the animal showed up at Moss Landing on Wednesday lunchtime, having swum nearly 100 miles from Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf. It was first  reported entangled in what looks like a fishing line at about 10 pm on Friday night.

The concern, said Jim Oswald this afternoon, is that the animal is becoming stressed by the rescue efforts. The sea lion is 'so cogniscent' of all that is happening, he said. A second concern is that the sea lion's escape antics are tightening the line around his neck and muzzle.

In evading rescuers, who made two attempts on Wednesday, three yesterday and two this morning, he is jumping out of nets and up and down from docks in the harbor.  Already, he is malnourished and dehydrated, said Jim.

The animal has been seen lapping sea water, a sign of dehydration. Whether the animal can open his muzzle enough to eat small fish is not known. If the animal is still at Moss Landing next week, efforts to capture him will be renewed on Wednesday or Thursday, said Jim.

The decision to 'stand down' has been taken in consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service who license the center, and veterinarians.

The Center will continue to monitor the Moss Landing Harbor and other areas. Video of the rescue attempts on Wednesday were filmed by CBS5 and the video has been posted on the center website along with their own photos.

Center Director, Jeff Boehm, has also written a public explanation of the reasons behind the center's decision to postpone making a rescue at Pier 39 until daylight on Saturday morning.

'Center staff elected to wait until morning to attempt to rescue the animal and that response surprised, angered and frustrated many,' he said, and goes on to explain the dangers and difficulties of animal rescues.

'In this situation, my staff responded in a manner that reflected concern for the animal’s best interests, and the safety of the Center’s volunteers and staff. In what was an important and critical assessment, compassion may have seemed lacking, but I can assure you it wasn’t. We care deeply about each stranded seal or sea lion that is reported to us—we wouldn’t be in this line of work if that wasn’t the case. I also want to assure you that the approach we take is based on 35 years of experience in rescuing and treating more than 15,000 marine mammals.'

For the full text of Jeff Boehm's response, further info + video:

 http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/learning/comm/entangledsealions.asp

Jeff Boehm's response can be accessed in the report titled 'Rescue efforts continue for three entangled California sea lions.'


pics taken for Marine Mammal Center and posted on their website:
sea lion sitting upright - Deborah Gabris; rescuer approaching the sea lion on the first day - Sherm Gloub ; sea lion on the dock - Sherm Gloub  

No Sight of Injured Pier 39 Sea Lion but Missing Sea Lion Colony may be Returning

The injured and entangled sea lion that slipped in a distressed state into the sea at Pier 39 early Saturday morning has still not been found - but some of the sea lion colony that mysteriously disappeared in November returned today.

Sue Muzzin, Pier 39's Director of Public Relations and Advertizing, said of the injured sea lion, 'There has not been a sighting of him since Saturday.'

She confirmed that members of the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito called off their boat search at the end of yesterday. They had patrolled the bay around the Embarcadero, Hyde Street Pier and Alcatraz for two days.
The seal, thought to be a male weighing around 350-375 lbs, was spotted at about 10 pm on Friday night in K-Dock at the pier at Fisherman's Wharf. On-lookers were critical of the center when Erin Brodie, Stranding Coordinator, said it would be too dangerous to attempt a rescue in the dark on a slippery float.

The rescue attempt was postponed until daylight, but the sea lion suddenly slipped into the water and vanished just before 7 am on Saturday. He was bound around the neck and muzzle with what appeared to be a fishing line.

Since then two other sea lions with entanglements have been reported.

One was seen at Hyde Street Pier late on Saturday afternoon and a rescue attempt begun, but the animal went back into the sea. The other has been spotted at Belvedere, north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

'The Marine Mammal Center is ready for any kind of rescue they can provide,' said Sue Muzzin.

At the same time, there has been another unexpected happening. There appears to be a return of some of the sea lion colony that vanished from Pier 39 late November. From record numbers of over 1,500 animals in the fall, the herd suddenly became a handful.

However, at 11 am today, Harbormaster Sheila Candor counted 20 sea lions congregating on the floats. Even though the Harbormaster counted 26 sea lions in the area last Wednesday, said Sue Muzzin, it is the first time since the mass exodus that there have been so many together.

'We think that's a promising sign,' she said. Certainly, walking up the pier this afternoon, a familiar barking had replaced the ghostly silence of the last few weeks.

Does she think they will return? She quoted Marine Mammal Center Director Jeff Boehm, saying that staff "were not concerned, just curious."

'We believe that they will be back,' she said. 'It will make all the staff of Pier 39 very happy. We miss them.'

The sea lions have generated enormous media interest. This afternoon as I interviewed Sue, she had just finished a call to a blogger with the New York Times.

pics show the sea lions on the float at Pier 39; the viewing platform full once more; tourists showing interest in the Marine Mammal Center information box on Pier 39, with illustrations of a sea lion rescue; a lone sea lion once again swimming in Mission Creek, further down the bay