was born in Rock Island Illinois and grew up in Moline Illinois (Alleman HS Class of 1973). Trained as a Population Biologist at the University of Illinois and later as a Statistician at Florida State University, I've worked as a Volunteer Naturalist for The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito for over 20 years, spending every Saturday afternoon for over 15 of those years teaching Marine Mammalogy at Pier39. I actually helped train TMMC's Education Coordinator Adam Ratner (who comments in this video about the spectacle as a TMMC spokesman) when he first started as a docent himself. And he is entirely correct that this is a temporary, somewhat random phenomenon made possible by the California Sea Lions' annual movement down the California coast to the warmer-waters of The Channel Islands prior to their birthing-mating season (birth-then-mating a week or so later, their delayed-implantation-of-the-fertilized-egg adaptation transforming the 9-month pregnancy into an annual cycle) occurring at the same time as a large anchovy-run in the bay, ostensibly triggered by a naturally-bountiful upwelling 26 miles offshore (near the Continental Shelf just west of the Farallon Islands) where deep cold-water mixes with warmer inshore water in an well-understood process known as as The Ekman Spiral. The result is a huge and quickly forming plankton bloom that triggers a huge food-chain, zooplankton (critters) feeding on the tiny phytoplankton (plants) that are in turn preyed upon by a chain of predators from krill (think of them as small shrimp) to small fish like anchovy and herring, to bigger fish like mackerel and tuna who are in turn fed upon by sharks, dolphins, porpoise, whales, seals, sea-lions, and even birds like the gannet, cormorant, and pelican. Local reports cite the fact that large flocks of pelican are readily apparent, an easily spotted signal of what are referred to as "bait-balls) where all those predators feed in an incredible frenzy where the poor anchovy and/or herring are the big losers! But this recent influx of California Sea-Lions at Pier39's K-dock is not near record numbers since their still rather mysteriously precipitated "invasion" just after the Loma Prieta earthquake in October of 1989 ostensibly altered their usual "haulout" near what was called "Seal Rock" just to the south and west of The Golden Gate Bridge!. In the Fall of 2008, and El Niño year, I counted double the current number every Saturday, eventually reaching a maximum of 2,005 one afternoon in November. It was, as you can imagine if you've ever visited a bird or seal rookery on your own, cacophonous, stinky, and a near madhouse of wildlife naturally doing what they do in a place where we can easily observe ti rather than the remote palces such activity usually takes place! It wasn't until I was back home in the QC's in my parents' home in Moline's Green Acres neighborhood when my Dad called me itot he living room to see a national news report that "Pier39's Sea Lions had 'disappeared'" all of a sudden, creating yet another less than factual round of conjecture about "why"!
Been there a long time... just sayin... Farallon island is both sea lion breading grounds and great white feeding ground... Look it all up. Leave nature alone... I've visited it all and seen both places many times. Retired USCG Chief sends ⚓💪🏻
They know where safe & sound beside fish😁🦭beside what option? People have encroached everywhere, along coasts, remote areas, & wilderness, ... intrude & take rookeries, nursery, hatchery, & safe areas, along with habitat & biomes, disrupting & alter behaviour & relationships among food webs & ecosystem function. So those Sea Lion beasties, prolly Harbor Seals too, have no resort for sanctuary, reproduce, or find sustenance as those places were historically their preferred locations. While bear, wolf, & olther animal been extirpated, absent or waning predator populations in areas, along with watersheds & estuaries altered & impeded, so affect fisheries especially anadromous species, such as Salmon, evidently those populations are considered critical condition even with take restrictions happening, so Anchovy spawn🐟 is meal call. Seems aware manageable coexist with people & get relatively easy meals too, when they follow the fishing tours 😁. Bears, wolves, & other animals already been extirpated, while remaining natural environment further pressured. Although not far off the coast of California, the Channel Islands archipelago & marine reserves still provide for Sea Lions, & many more populations, whales, avian species that are strictly sea birds, Elephant seals, ... Thankfully, those tremendous beasts (they do defy imagination) prefer remain remote from people & don't visit coast too often, while these conditions do allude health of marine ecosystem & other ecology, so recommend become aware then take action as possible with conserve or preserve (there are distinctions), that promote their survival. Wondering about conditions along those islands & particular sanctuaries, are they observing larger populations & crowded too? Stay safe & well.
was born in Rock Island Illinois and grew up in Moline Illinois (Alleman HS Class of 1973).
Trained as a Population Biologist at the University of Illinois and later as a Statistician at Florida State University, I've worked as a Volunteer Naturalist for The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito for over 20 years, spending every Saturday afternoon for over 15 of those years teaching Marine Mammalogy at Pier39. I actually helped train TMMC's Education Coordinator Adam Ratner (who comments in this video about the spectacle as a TMMC spokesman) when he first started as a docent himself.
And he is entirely correct that this is a temporary, somewhat random phenomenon made possible by the California Sea Lions' annual movement down the California coast to the warmer-waters of The Channel Islands prior to their birthing-mating season (birth-then-mating a week or so later, their delayed-implantation-of-the-fertilized-egg adaptation transforming the 9-month pregnancy into an annual cycle) occurring at the same time as a large anchovy-run in the bay, ostensibly triggered by a naturally-bountiful upwelling 26 miles offshore (near the Continental Shelf just west of the Farallon Islands) where deep cold-water mixes with warmer inshore water in an well-understood process known as as The Ekman Spiral.
The result is a huge and quickly forming plankton bloom that triggers a huge food-chain, zooplankton (critters) feeding on the tiny phytoplankton (plants) that are in turn preyed upon by a chain of predators from krill (think of them as small shrimp) to small fish like anchovy and herring, to bigger fish like mackerel and tuna who are in turn fed upon by sharks, dolphins, porpoise, whales, seals, sea-lions, and even birds like the gannet, cormorant, and pelican.
Local reports cite the fact that large flocks of pelican are readily apparent, an easily spotted signal of what are referred to as "bait-balls) where all those predators feed in an incredible frenzy where the poor anchovy and/or herring are the big losers!
But this recent influx of California Sea-Lions at Pier39's K-dock is not near record numbers since their still rather mysteriously precipitated "invasion" just after the Loma Prieta earthquake in October of 1989 ostensibly altered their usual "haulout" near what was called "Seal Rock" just to the south and west of The Golden Gate Bridge!.
In the Fall of 2008, and El Niño year, I counted double the current number every Saturday, eventually reaching a maximum of 2,005 one afternoon in November. It was, as you can imagine if you've ever visited a bird or seal rookery on your own, cacophonous, stinky, and a near madhouse of wildlife naturally doing what they do in a place where we can easily observe ti rather than the remote palces such activity usually takes place!
It wasn't until I was back home in the QC's in my parents' home in Moline's Green Acres neighborhood when my Dad called me itot he living room to see a national news report that "Pier39's Sea Lions had 'disappeared'" all of a sudden, creating yet another less than factual round of conjecture about "why"!
I would go there just to see the seals.
We know why this is happening.
@CapodeiCapiNY smh.. stop
They want free fish!
Exactly.
leave them alone!!
Las nuevas vacas k se utilisaran en las Carnes asada o ellas nos comeran hai miles de estos por todos lados
Did you know a sea lions are so slippery they don't need condoms .
And sharks are following the sea lions.
Great White sharks Don't come in the San Francisco Bay 1:48
The shops, the restaurants, the sea lions…the homeless, the needles, the feces.
Been there a long time... just sayin...
Farallon island is both sea lion breading grounds and great white feeding ground... Look it all up. Leave nature alone... I've visited it all and seen both places many times.
Retired USCG Chief sends ⚓💪🏻
its because of global warming save us
They know where safe & sound beside fish😁🦭beside what option? People have encroached everywhere, along coasts, remote areas, & wilderness, ... intrude & take rookeries, nursery, hatchery, & safe areas, along with habitat & biomes, disrupting & alter behaviour & relationships among food webs & ecosystem function. So those Sea Lion beasties, prolly Harbor Seals too, have no resort for sanctuary, reproduce, or find sustenance as those places were historically their preferred locations. While bear, wolf, & olther animal been extirpated, absent or waning predator populations in areas, along with watersheds & estuaries altered & impeded, so affect fisheries especially anadromous species, such as Salmon, evidently those populations are considered critical condition even with take restrictions happening, so Anchovy spawn🐟 is meal call. Seems aware manageable coexist with people & get relatively easy meals too, when they follow the fishing tours 😁. Bears, wolves, & other animals already been extirpated, while remaining natural environment further pressured. Although not far off the coast of California, the Channel Islands archipelago & marine reserves still provide for Sea Lions, & many more populations, whales, avian species that are strictly sea birds, Elephant seals, ... Thankfully, those tremendous beasts (they do defy imagination) prefer remain remote from people & don't visit coast too often, while these conditions do allude health of marine ecosystem & other ecology, so recommend become aware then take action as possible with conserve or preserve (there are distinctions), that promote their survival. Wondering about conditions along those islands & particular sanctuaries, are they observing larger populations & crowded too? Stay safe & well.