Wednesday September 18, 2024

Not a huge day facilities wise. We did our daily repair of the electric fences, and chopped a little more wood.

However, we did receive some cool news from Brian Wright, the NOAA scientist who we reported the branded sea lions to. He told us that number 444X, was first tagged in Astoria all the way back in 2016, and he has not been reported since.

This information is super valuable to scientists and managers because it shows what areas are being used by these animals, the extent of their ranges, and how long they can live. (Which for a California Sea Lion is 15 – 25 years!).

Mark and recapture studies are also very important for estimating functional population size, and this type of study design is used for lots of fundamental ecological work. This infographic from FishBio, nicely explains how a mark-recapture study can work in an open environment! Again, this is a good reminder to report any tagged animals you encounter!

Whale Watching Vessels: 20

Private Vessels: 0

Weather: Mix of Sun and Cloud.  Calm during the day, wind picked up to 12kts W