El Nino Is a Bad Deal for the Seals

It was an amazing and unusual journey, especially for a creature so young and vulnerable.

Born, in all likelihood, at San Miguel Island about 60 miles off Ventura, the northern fur seal pup managed to negotiate the width of the shark-patrolled Santa Barbara Channel, then traveled another 60 miles down the coast, only to find herself lost and alone on the sandy shore at Will Rogers State Beach near Santa Monica.

It was there, on the morning of Oct. 7, a Sunday, that the dehydrated and malnourished ball of fur attempted an inland journey, making it as far as Pacific Coast Highway before being picked up by animal control workers.

And today, only 4 months old and about the size of a small poodle, she is the star patient at the Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, dining on generous rations of smelt, sardines and herring, and lounging around the pool--a small plastic wading pool, but a pool nonetheless.

“Why did the fur seal cross the road? To get to the hospital,” is the joke going around the center.

But while Jackie Jaakola, the facility’s director, and Jennifer Sullivan, the operations manager, are able to laugh now, they may not have time in the coming months.

They haven’t had a northern fur seal in their midst since the El Nino winter of 1997-98. In fact, their newest patient--No. 01-138, “a.k.a. Her Highness,” as Jaakola says--is only the fifth fur seal to have been brought to the care center since it opened in October 1992. The previous four arrived immediately before or during El Nino winters.

“I do not think she is the harbinger of another severe El Nino this winter, but I could be proven wrong,” says Joe Cordaro, a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist who keeps track of marine mammal strandings on the West Coast.

Cordaro acknowledged that experts are predicting another El Nino, beginning this winter or next, and that warming seas off South America seem to be an indication that one is developing. But he believes its impact won’t be felt locally until next winter.

Not that this is reassuring news to the staffs at the six NMFS-approved nonprofit marine mammal care facilities scattered along the coast, from Sea World in San Diego to Crescent City in Northern California.

In addition to delivering frequent and powerful storms, an El Nino causes changes in water temperature and displaces food sources--chiefly squid, anchovies, mackerel and herring--around the major island rookeries. Adult pinnipeds that utilize those rookeries are forced to travel farther to find their food, leaving pups and yearlings to fend for themselves.

During the relentless El Nino winter of 1997-98, there was a major die-off of fur seals and sea lions at the northern Channel Islands, particularly San Miguel Island, the only northern fur seal rookery off California. There also was a flood of young pinnipeds coming ashore on mainland beaches.

In most cases, they were not newborn pups still dependent on their mothers--those pups were the primary victims of island die-offs--but recently weaned animals in a desperate search for food. Some used local beaches merely to rest during tossing seas caused by violent El Nino-driven storms, but many came ashore severely malnourished and with related maladies.

Jaakola said at the time, “We’re treating El Nino as a war, taking only the debilitated animals first.”

She, one other staff member and a small army of volunteers worked 80-hour weeks and at one point were caring for 82 whiskered, wheezing, whimpering patients. In all, the 1997-98 patient list totaled 440 marine mammals, with most of those logged in December, January and February.

Today, Jaakola’s staff is still only two strong, aided by a few dozen part-time volunteers. She says those ranks will have to be bolstered if the next El Nino is anything like the last one.

Meanwhile, with only seven animals in-house, the care center workers are taking things in stride.

As for patient No. 01-138, she has bulked up from 12 to nearly 15 pounds, has begun to groom herself and is displaying the feistiness northern fur seals are notorious for--mainly, she bites.

These are positives, Jaakola says. The next step is to put her in a pen with other marine mammals so she can develop the competition skills necessary for survival in the wild.

And the ultimate step, if all goes well in the next month or two, is to give her a ride back to San Miguel Island and set her free.

“The rest will be up to her,” Jaakola says.

Her and Mother Nature.

Call of the Wild

It’s not clear whether it is a fear of flying to faraway places or, in light of events on and since Sept. 11, a renewed interest in the wonders of nature. But more people seem to be enjoying the great outdoors.

At Yosemite National Park, September visitation was up 15% from the previous September (467,690 versus 405,342), and ranger Scott Gediman said visitation also was up at national parks throughout the West.

“I think people are in a reflective mood right now, realizing that our national parks are an important part of our heritage,” Gediman said, “and that [is] something people maybe had taken for granted before.”

Fishery Business

The recreational fishing community is still reeling--and seething--over the veto last week of “rigs-to-reefs” legislation by Gov. Gray Davis.

Rigs to reefs, in essence, would have turned California’s decommissioned oil rigs into artificial reefs or, more accurately, kept them as reefs by removing their tops but leaving their lower structures, which have become home to and a nursery ground for a wide array of marine species.

By law, oil companies are required to remove the entire rig. Senate Bill 1, authored by Dede Alpert (D-Coronado), would have changed the law to allow platforms, on a case by case basis, to remain as reefs with some of the money saved by oil companies--as much as $400 million--used for conservation efforts.

Davis said he vetoed the bill because “there is no conclusive evidence that converted platforms enhance marine species or produce net benefits to the environment.”

Supporters of the bill accused Davis of caving in to environmental activists and commercial fishermen who want the ocean floor returned to its natural state, the latter group claiming the structures would destroy trawl gear they use to drag the ocean floor.

The veto of SB 1 comes when the state is considering a controversial near-shore fishery management plan that would impose a series of closures rendering large portions of coastal and island waters off-limits to fishermen, even though, critics contend, there is no conclusive evidence that such a drastic plan would benefit the environment.

What’s Biting

* Big yellowtail were cooperating for those aboard the Toronado at Cortez Bank on Wednesday--until the Navy chased the boat away because of missile practice, Pierpoint Landing owner Don Ashley said. That was at 9 a.m. The boat left with 135 yellowtail weighing 20-45 pounds.

* Albacore are feeding voraciously off Morro Bay. Anglers aboard the Pacific Queen, out of Virg’s Landing, boated 90 in one stop Wednesday.

* In Cabo San Lucas, fishing is fair for marlin, fantastic for large tuna. Dorado are plentiful too.

Fish Report D14