California’s Sea Lion Die-Off

[snooper2]

VICE

Published on Jun 5, 2015
Thousands of sick sea lion pups are washing up ashore and dying along the California coast, with over 3,100 pups reportedly becoming stranded in 2015 so far — an amount greater than the reported strandings from 2004 to 2012 combined.

Scientists believe that warming ocean temperatures and changes in availability of their prey are likely contributing to this unprecedented spike in deaths. And as sea lion mothers are forced to travel further offshore to find food, many pups are left to fend for themselves.

VICE News spoke with the California Wildlife Center in Malibu about the challenges of keeping up with the thousands of sick and starving sea lion pups washing up along the coast, as well as what this crisis means for the overall health of the ocean, and the future of the sea lion population.

[central scrutinizer]

1. Meanwhile in the Pacific Northwest

their numbers are increasing like rabbits and are endangering salmon runs, fouling public wharves and being general nuisances. Agencies are using fake orcas to try to scare them away from estuaries and public areas.

[RobertEarl]

2. Numbers are increasing?

They do seem to be fleeing the polluted ocean and headed upstream to where the water is less polluted. Following their prey which has also fled the ocean.

Fact is that the numbers of sea lions overall are decreasing.

[snooper2]

7. you never let us down....never change LOL

[brett_jv]

11. Could also be that the water is cooler and there's more food for them up north ...

Seems like the smart ones are heading north to OR/WA (where they seem to be doing pretty well) and the not-so-smart ones sticking around CA and having a rough go of it. Not that it's 'right' that they should be subjected to humans destroying the climate, but ... at least they 'have an option' ... unlike many polar critters.

[MoonRiver]

3. They have as much of a right to live as any other life form.

[Rex]

8. Global warming is really causing all kinds of problems, thanks for illustrating that!

[Bigmack]

9. People think...

.. that sea lions can't be a problem...

Wrong!

http://www.kgw.com/story/news/local/north-coast/2015/01/22/thousands-of-sea-lions-keep-astoria-residents-off-docks/22194111/

[erronis]

4. Other factors: Navy sonar/etc. testing?

Who knows what the military/corporate world is doing down there. Testing new drugs, explosives, life forms?

I wonder if the elites understand that soon they may no longer get real tuna or any other real life forms from the sea. But then they probably have their own farms, aquatic and on land. "Chicken-o-d-see", indeed.

[Dont call me Shirley]

5. Fucking oil criminals! And their toxic death spills!

[glowing]

6. How much is being effected by Fukishima nuclear problem?

[RobertEarl]

12. Scientists are being muzzled?

On ENEnews.com is a report claiming that marine scientists are being told that mentioning Fukushima is a bad career move.

The scientists are seeing lots of changes and are befuddled by what's happening.

[bluesbassman]

10. I visited Morro Bay in April and saw two adults on the beach.

One was partially decomposed so COD was iffy, but the other was so healthy looking I thought it might have just been sleeping. Unfortunately it was not. My friend who lives there said it's not unusual to see one or two a year, but two in two days was pretty alarming.

[Beringia]

13. Fisherman are taking all their food too

They need protection for their food source by limiting fisheries.