Tag Archives: sea lions

Wacky Warm Weather

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Weather: 

  • Sky blue with some clouds. Thick fog early this morning.
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 20-30 knots W
  • Over the past two days we had wind blowing less than 5 knots NE, which meant very warm, still conditions.

Boats/Visitors: 

  • On the 27th Guy and Corey delivered more water
  • Not too many eco-tourism boats despite the beautiful weather
  • One of our friends is visiting for a few days. Great to see a new face out here!

Maintenance: 

  • Corey and Guy also helped haul away an entire boat full of trash/recycling/unneeded items that we had gathered for removal earlier in the season.
  • We spent a handful of hours over the past few days collecting approx. 50 lbs of smaller bits of shingles and tar paper from the roofing project as well as other trash that has been exposed now that the tall grass is dry and pressed down from the animals.
  • Yesterday we washed the windows with a big brush and squeegee to get rid of all of the seagull poop that had blown onto them- much better!
  • We noticed some bricks protecting a cable by the crane shed were missing, but upon further investigation it turned out that they were simply knocked out of place and buried in the tall grass. We were able to unearth them and get everything back in place.

Continued Documentation of Vessel Activity

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Over the past few days we have been keeping an eye on eco-tourism vessels, and have been documenting their presence and their proximity to wildlife. The somewhat isolated nature of Race Rocks, minimal to no presence of regulating authority, and many other factors lead to a high risk of animals and the delicate marine environment being disturbed and potentially exploited.

While the distance of a vessel from wildlife is important, another considerable disturbance may be vibration and noise. Eco-tourism vessels fighting against the current to get the best viewing angle of resting animals easily vibrates a glass of water in our concrete foundation dwelling, over 100m from the waters edge. Another factor to consider is the volume of traffic. Items shaking in our home is normal, and we often hear boats coming before we see them. Perhaps a handful of boats conducting themselves responsibly would not be a problem, but on some days we see approximately 35+ eco-tourism boats alone. This does not include private vessels.

The below video is from July 31st, 2019 at 1413hr. It shows two zodiacs coming close to a pod of orcas within the reserve. The orcas were visible for over 15 minutes before this video was taken, and conversation on VHF channel 68 and 79 indicated that all boats in the area knew of their presence. Based on what we observed, it seemed as though the boats did not accidentally drift into place. Visible in the background is North Rock, video taken from the jetty.

We were unable to previously post it due to its size, but discovered uploading to YouTube and embedding to be a great solution.

As mentioned in the last blog post, the hauled out sea lions continue to provide an opportunity to observe how closely boats approach the wildlife. Here are three more videos of boats approaching the resting sea lions, all filmed within the last few days:

Additionally, here are some photos of miscellaneous vessels taken within the last 5 days or so:

This boat is interesting, it comes through often (see matching hull numbers) with different passengers but the same operator.

Another interesting boat coming in close for a look:

 

Weather: 

  • Sky clear
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 10 knots W
  • Water flat to rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

  • No visitors over the last few days.

Ecological: 

On the day the roofers were here a pod of orcas came through the reserve and I misplaced this photo, here it is now.

  • Census as follows:
  • 250 sea lions
  • 200-300 seagulls
  • 6 Canadian geese
  • Ruddy Turnstones and migrating birds come and go frequently

Rooftop Renovations

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Weather: 

  • Sky partially overcast
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 10-15 knots SW
  • Water rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Lots of things going on over the last days!
  • A work crew came out and replaced the roof on the boat house, tank shed, and crane control room.
  • The old shingles and tar paper are heavy! Removing them is messy work – but headway has been made. I think one more load taken away in Second Nature would deal with the leftovers.
  • Today Mara returned, catching a ride with a water delivery.

Ecological: 

  • Sea lions are taking over! Their numbers continue increasing.
  • I’ve seen young seagulls land in the shallow water by the jetty, only to have a sea lion come up under it and eat it whole.
  • The adult seagulls have started to chase and peck at their own young. I think this is probably to encourage their independence.

Soon, The Electric Fence?

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Weather: 

  • Sky partially overcast
  • Visibility 10+ miles
  • Wind 10 knots SW
  • Water rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

  • No visitors over the last few days.
  • The weekend was quiet, and Monday has been the same.

Ecological: 

  • The sea lions continue their advances on the island! I think that the electric fence will soon need to be deployed.
  • Seagulls continue to develop, see in the picture a family of three young (grouped) and one adult (foreground). The shorter chick hatched roughly 5 days later than its siblings and struggles to keep up in growth. Hopefully there’s lots more growing in it’s future, we named the little one Bonsai!

A Busy Day On The Water

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Weather: 

  • Blue skies, some clouds
  • Visibility 20+ miles
  • Wind 5-10 knots W
  • Water rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Many whale watching vessels today. With the increasing number of sea lions hauling out on great race rock, these eco tourism boats contrast sharply (in relatively close quarters) against the wildlife looking to rest on the rocks.
  • The high traffic in conjunction with the sea lions provides a great opportunity to display the proximity of these vessels from the wildlife. See the videos and photos below:

 

Ecological: 

  • An increasing number of sea lions hauling out on all rocks.
  • Young seagulls can be seen strengthening their wings, flapping and hopping 3 feet in the air. They play games with sticks and other debris, aggressively keeping the objects from their siblings looks to be practice for protecting precious food in the future.
  • Mentioned in a previous post, I was able to get a picture of the sea lion with the identifying gash in its side.

Sea lion with a cut (centre of photo)

Census:

  • 350 – 400 seagulls
  • 24 harbour seals
  • 68 sea lions
  • A handful of oystercatchers and cormorants (roughly 5-10 of each)

The Sea Lions Are Coming

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Weather:

  • Sky blue, partly cloudy
  • Visibility 13+ miles
  • Wind 10-20 knots SW
  • Water calm

Visitors/Boats: 

  • Not much boat traffic these past few days. It has been quite foggy and windy (40+ knots of wind)
  • Today Greg is bringing some water for the main tank. He is also bringing a volunteer from the college who will stay overnight.
  • Tomorrow morning we will have a group tour the island

Maintenance:

  • Yesterday Alex Fletcher came to take measurements from the batteries that supply the entire island. We have been having some problems with the technology but the batteries are looking good and healthy.
  • Our Canadian flag is still down, as the flag pole was too heavy for us to lower alone. We will try to enlist the help of Greg and the volunteer today and get things back in order!

Ecological: 

  • The sea lions are starting to haul out onto Great Race Rock more and more. We will need to put up the electric fence soon to prevent them from coming right up to our backdoor as their local population increases. We are waiting for the elephant seals to leave, as the fence would prevent them from moving freely onto the jetty.
  • There are now two younger elephant seals who arrived a couple of days ago. One of them went back to a favourite spot of one of this years spring pups, so we wonder if it is the same one.

Census

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  • Weather: 
  • Sky blue, partly cloudy
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 30-40 knots W (wind warning in effect)
  • Water white caps, waves to 1 m

 

  • Census Today:
  • 19 sea lions
  • 106 harbour seals (2 pups)
  • 3 elephant seals (moulting males)
  • 300 adult seagulls, many chicks
  • 8 known adult oyster catchers and  5-10 chicks
  • 5-10 pigeon guillemots
  • 1 ruddy turnstone
  • Throughout the week:
  • 5 western sandpipers
  • 1 short billed dowitcher
  • 2 bald eagles

Working on the energy systems

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle brought in a team of PTTP technicians to the island to help finish our new energy system wiring and to optimize our solar array for the greatest efficiency. Additionally, we also carried some of the older lead-acid batteries from the battery room to the tank room, from where they will be loaded on to a boat for the main island.
  • Kyle was also able to repair the Boston Whaler onsite – looks like the issue was corrosion on the contacts to the battery and the switch. He was able to sand the corrosion away and the electronics jumped to life!

Marine Mammals

  • The sea lions have completely disappeared over the last 2-3 days. Can’t see a single one around now
  • Elephant seal counts are at 2 females and 4 males – 3 of the males seemed to be all huddled up next to the student house, possibly to escape the wind.

Human Impact on Sealions: Fishing Flashers, Entanglement, Boat strikes

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In this post we have put together many of our references to the impacts that humans have inflicted on our California and Steller or northern sea lion population which hauls out at Race Rocks.  It includes images of fishing flashers and entanglement in commercial fishing gear, especially plastic net-binding hoops, as well as examples of strikes by boats which have injured sealions, often resulting in limb amputations. It is our hope that the fisher community can be more aware of how harmful their actions or negligence can be on marine mammal populations.  

FISHING FLASHERS:

We see this event all too often at Race Rocks. Fishers must take responsibility for removing fishing gear from the water when marine mammals are nearby. Not only is it expensive to loose equipment, the impact on these sea lions is uncertain. If the animal succeeds in breaking the leader for the flasher, then the animal only has to contend with the hook down in the stomach. It is not known how this effects sea lion mortality.

flash2

Dec. 13 2006

flasher2northern

Feb. 2006

flashernorthern

Feb. 2006

hookedsealion

This Northern sea lion was photographed on August 15, 2007 by Roth Wehrell. UVIc

front

A flasher on one of the sealions at the docks

Entanglement in Commercial Fishing Plastic bindings on Nets.

This section shows plastic neck rings from commercial fishing nets around the neck of a sea lion.
Please write your Fisheries governing departments to request that all plastic bands used in the fishing industry for binding fish nets by made of biodegradable material.

RM4_8493necklace

Neck rings on middle island

Oct26 2015

Oct26 2015

gfsept809threebrand

Sept. 9,2009-
This northern (steller’s) sea lion showed up on Middle Rock in February of 2009 . Note the ridge formed by the ring toward the head end. Photo by Ryan  two neck rings and three brands appear in the same photo from the tower. GF

Aug 31, 2009

Aug 31, 2009

Sept. 2, 2009

Sept. 2, 2009- Ryan Murphy photo

Sept. 1999

Sept. 1999 Carol Slater took this picture of a California beside the docks.

These two tags will bring up the other posts on Marine mammal Injuries and Entanglement.

See other photos from the excellent collection of Ryan Murphy on Flickr

See this reference: Entanglement of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in marine debris: Identifying causes and finding solutions

Kimberly L. Raum-Suryana, , , Lauri A. Jemisonb, Kenneth W. Pitcherc
Elsevier: Volume 58, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 1487–1495
Abstract
Entanglement in marine debris is a contributing factor in Steller sea lion (SSL; Eumetopias jubatus) injury and mortality. We quantified SSL entanglement by debris type, sex and age class, entanglement incidence, and estimated population level effects. Surveys of SSL haul-outs were conducted from 2000–2007 in Southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia. We recorded 386 individuals of all age classes as being either entangled in marine debris or having ingested fishing gear. Packing bands were the most common neck entangling material (54%), followed by rubber bands (30%), net (7%), rope (7%), and monofilament line (2%). Ingested fishing gear included salmon fishery flashers (lures: 80%), longline gear (12%), hook and line (4%), spinners/spoons (2%), and bait hooks (2%). Entanglement incidence was 0.26% (SD = 0.0064, n = 69 sites). “Lose the Loop!” Simple procedures such as cutting entangling loops of synthetic material and eliminating the use of packing bands can prevent entanglements.

BOAT STRIKES:

As the Northern (Steller) and California sea lions started to return to Race Rocks in the fall of 2009, Ecoguardian Ryan Murphy noticed what may be a significant increase in the number of encounters they have had with humans. Ryan took  these pictures at the time.

Killer Whales, Porpoise and Sea Lions Galore.

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It was another glorious day at Race Rocks and the trend is continuing. The barometer rose slowly until late afternoon and then levelled off and dropped a bit. The forecast is for outflow easterlies that are so good at keeping the fog at bay.
Following a little too close.
There was a flurry of whale watching activity today as Southern Resident Killer Whales went past Race Rocks going east with the tide. After the main pod had passed, there were 15 whale watching boats in the reserve and I noted a total of 32 over the day.
Crowded in front of the jetty
I saw two Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) feeding in the reserve. They are such smooth, quiet, little divers. They seemed to be feeding on some sort of forage fish that were flipping at the surface. Very tidy and well behaved compared to the sea lions.
Tide is coming up.
Some of the choice spots for hauling out are quite crowded now and there is a lot of jockeying for position in the California Sea Lion mosh pit where it is not unusual to see animals running across others to find a comfy sleeping spot. They stack in like cord-wood and must keep each other warm.

Here are a few shots of the California Sea Lion with the orange tags (no numbers) that has been ring-necked but seems to be healthy and vigorous. I didn’t find the ring-necked Steller’s today.
Stopped scratching for a moment.
Healing Ring-neck.Healthier ring-neck

Alex Fletcher solved my bird mystery: the mystery birds are Killdeer that arrive just after dark each night. Alex has heard them in the winter too. They must roost on the island and then leave for the day, as I have not seen them in daylight yet.

I finished the fence today, did more cleaning and made fresh water with the desalinator. By the time I went to turn off the generator the Sea Lions were laying on my fence. Hmmm, that is not not very effective.