by
Bob Hansen, PNRP Wildlife Specialist
The Westerly News
July 7, 2004
Wick
Beach, August 31, 2004, high-tide, the day after the big swell came through....there
were about 12 - 15 people surfing west of Wick Centre. Sea lions were
coming up, maybe one or two popping their heads up by groups of surfers.
At some point a sea lion came right up behind one experienced surfer,
putting its head up out of the water. Since this often happens the surfer
was not concerned.
Suddenly, the surfer was pulled backwards; the sea lion had found the
board leash and dragged the surfer for what seemed like a long time but
may have been five seconds. The surfer decided to paddle closer to the
other surfers. Two sea lions followed the surfer closely. The sea lions
were popping up and doing rolls, sometimes coming right out of the water,
usually within ten feet of the surfer but sometimes they were closer,
bumping the board, rolling and making eye contact. The surfer made it
over to two other surfers and rafted up with them hoping for some respite
from the attention of the sea lions. Another sea lion joined the first
two and now approached all three surfers but they paid particular attention
to the first surfer and bumped into the board of that surfer.
This continued on and off for about ten minutes, the animals were close
when a big set came through separating the animals and the surfers. The
sea lions turned to surfing and occasionally dove up over the wave crests.
After the set passed, the same surfer was approached again but by one
sea lion this time.
The sea lion came up out of the water to its shoulders, made and maintained constant eye contact with the surfer as it swam directly at the surfer in a zig-zag approach. The sea lion also made a coughing growling noise and had its mouth open. It was very intimidating. When the sea lion was just two feet away it did a big loop and dove back into the water.
During these interactions the surfer had tried a number of responses to evade the interest of the sea lions, including laying flat on the board, drawing in feet and arms, yelling, rafting with other surfers and moving away. Finally, the surfer went into shore. The surfer decided those big waves weren't worth riscking further escalation of the interaction.
The above is a summary of an encounter that was reported to the wardens at Long Beach shortly after it occurred. The surfer was wearing a black and grey wetsuit on a 6' 3" off-white, thruster-style board. After some discussion between the wardens responsible for public safety and human-wildlife interactions, it was decided to collect more information on sea lion behaviour and to inform the surfing community of the recent encounters. This was not the first report of the season but it was definately the most intense and closest one. Nine reports of intimidating behaviour on the part of sea lions have been recorded.
Knowledge
Sea lions have long been reported as surfing near or alongside people.
However, reports received this year have been of encounters that were
closer, longer, bolder or involving contact with people. In the 30 odd
years of data from park wildlife databases as of September, only nine
sea lion encounters have been reported, and these were in 2003 and 2004.
These recent encounters may indicate a developing behaviour trend by an individual, group or the local sea lion population in response to unknown variables such as increased water use by humans, environmental factors, or a learned behaviour that may be passing through the population. The animals involved may simply be young animals that are exhibiting a higher degree of curiosity. Consultations with experts revealed that sea lions typically push themselves higher out of the water when they are trying to see the object of their interest better. On the other hand they don't usually come as close as related in some of the encounters.
However, at this time there is still much that we don't know. Sea lion behaaviour while in the water is not well documented and what the behaviour triggers may be is uncertain. There are also different behaviours exhibited between the two species. The animals' behaviour may not actually be aggressive while being perceived as aggressive or threatening by humans - we need more knowledge of sea lion behaviour in water and specific to species.
Next
Steps
It is too soon to know for certain if these sorts of sea lion - human
interactions will become a regular concern to surfers in this area. For
this reason, it is the intention of the wardens to look for more information
and research on sea lion behaviour during the winter surf season. We are
continuing to collect reports of sea lion encounters by working with local
surf schools and rental shops and distributing encounter report forms.
Encounter
vs Observation
Encounter:
There is a two-way interaction with people. The animal is aware
of people being there but will ot leave or actually approaches people.
Aggressive behaviours may or may not be exhibited by the animal.
Observation:
The animal may or may not be aware of the presence of people. If it is
aware, it does fine on its own or flees with minimal effort on the part
of people.
If you have an encounter please attempt to move away from the area or animal(s) or better yet, get out of the surf and wait awhile on the beach before re-entering and continuing your surf. Basically, if you are in a situation that you are not comfortable with, you can seldom go wrong by just removing yourself from that situation. We do not recommend trying to approach or hitting the animals - these are very large, wild predators.
You
can help! If you have had a sea lion encounter in the past or if you experience
one in the future, please report it to park staff, and Info Centre, call
726-7165 ext. 227 and leave a message or email bob.hansen@pc.gc.ca.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Westerly News, a Canwest Company. Reproduction of this article
or photographs, in whole or in part, is illegal without the written consent
of The Westerly News (westnews@ukeecable.net).
The Westerly News is published each Wednesday in Ucluelet. Phone: 250
726-7029
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