Endangered Fur Seals Stranded Off The Coast Of California

During 2015 as many as eighty fur seals were found either dead or stranded on the coast of California which according to scientists is eight times more than normal. 42 of the seals were found dead and the rest were found half starving but alive said the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Unusual Mortality Event

Because there were so many deaths and strandings the agency declared an Unusual Mortality Event. The designation allows the Federal government to allocate more money to help with conservation of the threatened species. Teneya Norris who works at the Marine Mammal Centre which is caring for some of the seals that were found stranded said the reason behind the strandings was a warming ocean which produces changes in food availability.

“These stranded animals are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of animals affected by the unusually warm water temperatures we’ve been seeing off the coast,” Norris said.

Hunted to near extinction

Fur seals were nearly hunted to extinction during the late 19th century and narrowly escaped disappearing altogether. Today there are approximately 10,000 that remain. The species almost exclusively breeds on Guadalupe Island which lies off the coast of Mexico and very little is known about the fur seal. In 2013 NOAA also issued a warning over California’s sea lions after it was found that hundreds had become stranded on the coast.

Big warning sign

Ms. Norris did stress that though the number of fur seals that had been stranded was much lower than the 1,300 sea lions that were rescued in 2015, the number was still concerning. Ms. Norris said that whilst the number of stranded fur seals stranded might not seem like a lot for a species that is under a threat, it still remained a big warning sign that we need to pay attention to what is happening to the oceans.