The case of the lost pinnipeds

Most of Newport Harbor’s famous sea lions have gone AWOL, perhaps in search of a snack.Where did they go?

Last summer, it would have been a challenge to go near Newport Harbor and not hear a honking sea lion, or at least see one of the blubbery pinnipeds lounging on a boat where the animal was almost certainly not welcome.

But recently things have been quieter, and it’s possible to look along the rows of boats and yachts that line Newport Harbor and find nary a sea lion in sight.

The Balboa Peninsula’s Fun Zone Boat Co. advertises sea lion tours at its waterfront location. The company’s Charlie Maas said the sea lions are still around, but they are no longer a constant presence around mooring areas. To find a sea mammal around Newport, one has to look closer to the harbor mouth.

“They’re where we usually find them, just outside the harbor jetty,” Maas said.

One possibility -- and it’s only a possibility -- is that the sea lions of summer 2005 have found another place to eat. Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said he assumes that the sea lions came to Newport Harbor last summer because they found something to eat there.

It’s possible that the sea lions have found another place to eat, giving them less of a reason to hang out in Newport.

“Usually, they’ll stay in an area only because there’s food there,” Cordaro said.

Sea lion food -- as in bait and fish parts -- is at the center of a set of proposed ordinances that have received the Newport Beach Harbor Commission’s stamp of approval. The new rules would attempt to discourage sea lions from coming to Newport by denying the animals easy snacks. If approved by the Newport Beach City Council, the ordinances would ban activities such as feeding wild animals or discarding fish parts in Newport Harbor.

Chris Miller, Newport Beach’s harbor resources supervisor, said the City Council is expected to discuss the proposals at its Jan. 24 meeting. Following the council meeting, Miller said he plans to work on a list of legal sea lion countermeasures that boat and property owners can use to keep the animals away from places they are not wanted.

Harbor staffers have also worked on a prototype device that could be used to shoo away sea lions, Miller said. He described it as a solar- or battery-powered device that could spray water on unwelcome pinnipeds. The machine has yet to be tried in the field.

“If someone wants to take it and improve upon it, that’s what it’s for,” Miller said.

Miller said he started hearing sea lion-related complaints in late May last year. Cordaro said it would be hard to predict when or if large numbers of sea lions might return. They left without warning, he said, and “they could come back just as quickly.”