Local officials in Monterey, California had to close San Carlos Beach to human traffic because hundreds of California sea lions had taken over the beach.
Despite the presence of caution tape, people are still drawn to the sea lions’ antics and snap pictures of them as they lounge and play in the water and sand.
Although sea lions, also known as eared seals, are frequently spotted at some beaches along the California coast, locals claim to have never seen so many of the marine animals congregated in Monterey.
“California beaches are overrun by sea lions.”
It’s unclear exactly why the sea lions selected San Carlos Beach, but Lisa Uttal, a marine biologist with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, suggested they might be drawn to the ecosystem’s rich diversity of food sources. She said that almost everyone present on the beach was male.
From Ventura and the Channel Islands, they migrate down here. They move around so much. They’re usually after food, and this area of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is very productive, so the productivity is very rich, according to Uttal.
According to Uttal, they were supposed to stay on San Carlos Beach for three or four weeks.
The sea lions are protected by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, according to Marge Brigadier, a volunteer with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary’s Bay Net program. This act forbids people from influencing the behaviour of sea lions, so getting too close to them or making them run away are violations.
Brigadier said, “People just need to consider how they would feel if they were napping on their bed and something large kept coming and driving them out of the house.”
Source: Reuters
