California IN BRIEF : CONTRA COSTA COUNTY : Sea Lions Stumble on Feast of Fish

Three enterprising sea lions, normally found only in salt waters, have been found in a freshwater channel 15 miles inland from San Francisco Bay, gorging on fish trapped by screens at a pumping plant. “It’s like a Disneyland of food up there for them,” hydrologist Peter Vorster said of the unusual inland appearance of the ocean mammals. The state Department of Water Resources pumping facility in the Clifton Court Forebay in Contra Costa County is 10 to 15 miles from the nearest salt water and is reached through a maze of waterways that course through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta before emptying into the huge bay.