Rescuers Fail in Third Attempt to Help Two Sea Lions Snagged by Fishing Line

Rescuers tried unsuccessfully for a third time Saturday morning to save two sea lions in Newport Harbor whose lives are threatened by fishing lines wound tightly around their necks.

A Harbor Patrol boat carried volunteers from Friends of the Sea Lion to a fog-shrouded buoy just outside the breakwater shortly after 8 a.m. They spotted one of the injured mammals, believed to be the smaller of the two, resting with five other sea lions on the buoy.

Volunteers stood poised with nets as they neared the buoy. But when the boat was within a few feet, the injured sea lion quickly dove into the water, with four of the others following.

Within a few minutes, the animals leaped back atop the buoy. Volunteers tried two more times to net the sea lion, using two boats on either side of the buoy. Each time the animal slid back into the water.

The group may try again Friday, said Judi Jones, a director of Friends of the Sea Lion-Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.

The group has tried twice before to save the two sea lions, believed to be a 2-year-old female weighing about 130 pounds and a 4-year-old male weighing about 250 to 300 pounds.

Jones said the group will continue trying “as long as the Harbor Patrol’s patience holds out.”

Marine life experts guess that the sea lions became snagged on fishing lines about 7 weeks ago. The lines become tighter as the animals grow, and the sea lions could bleed to death if the lines tighten much more.