17 Dead Sea Lions Found in Past 6 Days, Official Says

A lifeguard official said Friday that 17 dead sea lions have washed onto city beaches in the past six days, bringing the total for the month to 26.

Marine Safety Division Lt. Steve Davidson said an updated count shows a higher than previously reported number of sea lions have washed ashore.

“I don’t know why we’re getting so many,” Davidson said. “That’s a pretty high number.”

Davidson said the animals had no obvious signs of death, such as gunshot wounds or cuts.

As city crews buried some of the dead sea lions in deep, sandy graves Friday, some local biologists said the recent spate of deaths is not cause for alarm.

“Animals die; that’s Mother Nature,” said biologist Irma Lagomarsino with the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency which oversees protection of marine life.

“I wouldn’t call it an epidemic,” she said, characterizing the overall sea lion population off the California coast as healthy. She said the Marine Fisheries Service would investigate the recent deaths as part of a regular look at the overall sea lion population.

“It’s sad to see it happen, but it’s mostly a natural thing,” said Dennis Kelly, a marine biology instructor and sea mammal expert at Orange Coast College.

“There are far more sea lions, especially very young ones, than the carrying capacity of our local environment. That’s happened over the last 10 years because we’ve eliminated their major predator, sharks,” Kelly said.

“On top of that, El Nino has arrived, and it has changed the food structure out there. The type of bait and amount of bait available has been reduced significantly.”

The same phenomenon with sea lions happened in 1982 and 1983, the last time El Nino, a climatic phenomenon that starts in the South Pacific, caused ocean warming. But Kelly said the problem with dead mammals was even more pronounced then, since it was a stronger El Nino. Judi Jones, the director of Friends of the Sea Lions in Laguna Beach, said she thought the recent deaths may be part of a natural cycle. “But I think we tend to affect the natural cycle a little bit more” with pollution.

Kelly said he examined one dead sea lion in the ocean off Newport Beach and noticed that it was emaciated. He saw no exterior damage from nets or gunshot wounds, which are two common causes of death for the creatures. Some fishermen will shoot seals and sea lions if they disrupt their fishing spots.