Where’d the Pier 39 Sea Lions Go?

By Johnny Cat in Animals & Pets, Travel on Dec 29, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Image Composite: Left: flickr/wallyg. Right: Twitter/@GarySoup

Image Composite: Left: flickr/wallyg. Right: Twitter/@GarySoup

If you’ve been to the Fisherman’s Wharf part of San Francisco in the past twenty years, chances are you’ve seen (and heard) the resident sea lions that call Pier 39 home. I’d spend long stretches of time just observing them and their behavior patterns, and always found them neat.

Since about a month ago, when they collectively slipped into the bay and disappeared, the pier has been quiet and barren.

The sea lions’ disappearance is as strange as their initial colonization of the pier about 20 years ago, in late 1989. They just started showing up one day and as their numbers increased, their traditional hang out, Seal Rocks, became less populated. There are all sorts of theories about why the pier became a favorite haul-out spot for the sea lions, but no one knows for sure why the animals’ behavior changed.

It doesn’t appear that local weather conditions could have influenced the animals. The weather in San Francisco has been normal, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Canaepa. “It’s pretty typical winter conditions,” Canaepa said.

There is also no apparent population increase on Seal Rock; apparently hundreds of them just decided to move on.

Tags: mammal, Marine, migration, nature, pier 39, san francisco, sea lions

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Spooty
Dec 29th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
To your “seen (and heard)” phrase, I must add “(and smelled)”.

I’m an SF native (although long-gone from there), so I know whereof I speak!
dorkhero
Dec 29th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Kimberly
Dec 29th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I am irrationally upset about this – granted I don’t make it to SF often, but I loved seeing them. I don’t care if it *is* touristy, I loved those little guys. Sniff.
secret asian man
Dec 29th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Like me, another SF native, I think they got fed up with the usurious taxation, onerous regulatory environment, and self-important yuppie transplants.

Maybe they’ll join me here in Texas.
PeterW
Dec 29th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Nobody goes to that pier anymore; it’s too crowded.
JamesM
Dec 29th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I’ll miss the Sealions on the pier… used to visit them every time I went to SF… but the smell, oh god, the smell. Spooty said it.

Retch. The smell.

It still was fun to see them, though.
pignose baby
Dec 29th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I guess they got tipped off to better cocktails elsewhere. Where’s the happenin’ club now these days? They got to be turning up somewhere!

my favorite part of the article-

“So, even though no one has found them, “there really isn’t a reason to be looking for them.”

Hahaha.
michaelJ
Dec 29th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
They just got tired of the republican’s lies.
Sven
Dec 29th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
have they checked Pier 40?
EJ
Dec 29th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
The property value of the pier dropped below the principal amount on their mortgage, show they walked away (more like swam).
Johnny Cat
Dec 29th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Too bad, EJ. If they had a good real estate agent, they could have made out with a short seal, and saved their credit.
Larfin Jackarse
Dec 30th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Looking at the difference between those two fodes I would say that they are wrapped up tight in front of a fire somewhere. Let’s hope for them that the tight wrapping isn’t batter and that the fire wasn’t lit by Japanese whalers.
rosekat
Dec 30th, 2009 at 2:05 am
I will vouch for the foul smell as well, hung out there in fall ’07. I saw a few jerks in the lot (vicious biters and projectile vomiters!), perhaps they all moved out of the neighbourhood because of a few bad seeds.
VM
Dec 30th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Wow, made it to comment 7 before the lazy and predictable political joke. Maybe there’s hope for us yet.
Gravedigger
Dec 30th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Johnny Cat, they had a great real estate agent. The problem was when they went to seal the deal with the bank, they piered into their finances. The banker is unhappy with what he seas and their property is going to join the wave of forclosures.
Lewen
Dec 30th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Pier 39 is soooo dated. No one goes there anymore. Seal rock is way retro. Its the hipster place to be.
Austin
Dec 30th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Not sure if anyone considered this, but this year is shaping up to be a pretty crazy El Nino winter. That means no fishies on the west coast. Ex: last El Nino devestated the peruvian fishing industry.

At least that’s what the discovery channel told me.
Splint Chesthair
Dec 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
El nino is a myth!
Robolasse
Dec 30th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
They know where the next Tsunami hits!
ted
Dec 31st, 2009 at 2:39 am
earthquake.
ground
Jan 12th, 2010 at 10:04 am
They left because of the earthquake, does anyone notice a pattern? First Yuma AZ then eureka, what’s next?
peter/uk
Feb 18th, 2010 at 1:51 am
I cannot believe the seals will not be there on monday 22-Feb when i vist San Francisco for the 1st time, maybe i should cancel my visit and go elswhere, maybe Chicago or somthing.
Quad
Mar 10th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
@ PeterW
“Nobody goes to that pier anymore; it’s too crowded.”

Ummmmmm, Peter? If nobody goes there, wouldn’t it be empty, not crowded? I think you’re the only one who doesn’t go there. I live by the bay and go there every
so often, and yeah it is crowded, but that’s the best part. That’s why it’s a “tourist attraction” maybe?

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