Aggressive sea lion

causing trouble in harbors

Mike Tozzo

May 4 , 2006.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Petersburg Harbor have teamed up to try and deal with the problem of aggressive sea lions in the harbor. They have come up with some solutions to help solve this sea lion problem.

“Our plan is to cut off his food source,” said Jerod Cook, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Law Enforcement Officer. Sea lions tend to find the scraps or guts of fish that are thrown overboard from fishing boats in the harbor. One of the reasons that Cook says may attribute to the aggressiveness of the sea lion is a lack of food source in the waters. “The more they get to eat the less aggressive they become,” said Cook.

According to Cook, people are starting to show up for fishing season and the sea lions in the harbor are here to eat. There is a law that states no feeding the sea lions but there is no law against dumping fish parts into the harbor. “We are working with the city and the harbor master to try and change this law so that people can’t throw their scraps into the harbor,” said Cook.

Cook said that there have been a number of reports from people about a sea lion climbing up onto the docks, getting close to people and charging after them. “Nobody has been bitten yet but there have been some close calls,” said Cook.

Harbormaster, Jim Stromdahl said, “We are going to put reminders in everybody’s moorage bills that it is illegal to feed the sea lions.” The harbor office will also be putting up five or six signs letting people know as well. A few suggestions have been made by the harbor staff as to what to do about sea lions.

The harbor staff will be suggesting to the city council to have a fine up to $300 for feeding sea lions, which consists of throwing out fish scraps, bait, etc. into the harbor unless at a fish cleaning station. The harbor is also looking to possible relocate fish cleaning stations out of the harbor and condensing the cleaning to one area at the old Union Oil Dock.

“There always seems to be about a three week period around April when sea lions begin to get aggressive and we have no idea what the reason is,” said Stromdahl. The sea lions are considered a tourist attraction for visitors and the harbor would like to keep them around for as long as they can but would also like to keep them in check.