If you’re out in the water and a sea lion tries to climb on you, swim to shore and wait for it to disappear.
This advice from LA County Lifeguard Section Chief Terry Yamamoto was one of many lessons offered at Manhattan Beach Mayor Wayne Powell’s town hall on ocean safety last Thursday.
Yamamoto’s suggestion came in response to a question from a young man in the audience, who had experienced the dilemma first hand. Apparently, he’s not alone.
“It does happen with surfers,” said Yamamoto, who added that the animals “can get pretty pushy.” He recalled an episode when a sea lion found its way into a lineup and was grabbing the surfers’ leashes. Its aim, he believed, was to find a place to rest.
The uncommonly warm weather seen lately was a theme throughout several of the experts’ presentations.
Lifeguards have been having to do more rescues because more people are taking to the ocean year-round, said Yamamoto.
“One of the hardest things over the last three years is the amount of surf and activity because the weather has been so good,” he said.
Malnourished sea lion pups have been washing ashore because their mothers are having a hard time finding temperature-sensitive food.
David Bard, the executive director of the Marine Mammal Care Center, which has been rehabilitating the pups, thanked the community for its recent outpouring of donations in response to the crisis.
“The city of Manhattan Beach has been wonderful to us this year,” said Bard. “We could’ve not gotten through without you.”
Juvenile white sharks, on the other hand, have flourished.
“Normally we only see them during the summer,” said Dr. Chris Lowe, the director of the Shark Lab at Cal State University, Long Beach. “Because of the unusual weather pattern, we see them during winter.”
One of their prime food sources, stingrays, thrives in the current conditions, he said. A couple thousand have been found in an area the size of a lifeguard station outside the break off of Seal Beach.
Lowe has been working with Yamamoto and the lifeguards to install what he described as underwater EZ Pass checkpoints that register each time a tagged shark passes over. The stations, which are funded by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, are used to track the sharks’ activity. ER
