Let Nature Take Its Course With Island Seals, Sea Lions

Is there a heart so cold it could resist being moved by the starvation of seals and sea lions on San Miguel Island, 50 miles off the Ventura coast?

Since summer about 6,000 northern fur seals and California sea lions have died on the island, The Times reported last week, because El Nino’s warming of ocean currents has driven away their food supply of squid, anchovies, herring and sardines.

The animals’ plight, and the frustration of would-be rescuers prevented by federal law from interfering with the cruel process of natural selection, brought an outcry from hundreds of readers. (Far more than responded to a report in the same day’s paper that donations to Ventura County’s Food Share food bank--which feeds people--are running far below needed levels.)

By law, rescue groups cannot simply sail to San Miguel and start feeding the animals, for fear that rescuers might disturb the habitat and remove pups from their mothers. And even if the immediate crisis could be solved, what of the future?

There are good reasons why scientists are keeping hands off. Nature often works in ways that do not make sense to us.

For 100 years, we battled every fire that broke out in western forests because that seemed like the right thing to do. Only recently have we come to appreciate that fires can actually improve a forest’s health by thinning out underbrush, destroying dead or diseased trees and aiding the germination of some plants.

On San Miguel and half a dozen other Pacific islands where seals and sea lions breed, populations of both mammal groups have been steadily increasing. Scientists believe there are about 1 million northern fur seals in U.S. waters and 11,000 on San Miguel Island. Estimates range from 85,000 to 180,000 for the number of California sea lions there.

Although the current food shortage is blamed on El Nino, there is a limit to how many seals and sea lions the Pacific can support, even in the best of times.

“It’s great that people are showing an interest in marine wildlife,” said Peter Howorth, director of the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center. “But saving them all, that’s playing God.”

In this case, as difficult as it is, people must trust God and nature to do the right thing.