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Endangered sea life: Trouble the water
These swimmers are treading their way through a sea change in habitat

by Samantha Campos

Steller sea lion

About the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and at the svelte weight of a ton-plus, the adult male Steller sea lion is the biggest sea lion in the world. In the United States, the Steller sea lion, sometimes known as the Northern sea lion, is found in the North Pacific Ocean, most abundant in the Gulf of Alaska, and has rookeries at Ano Nuevo on California's central coast and the Farallon Islands near San Francisco. Pescetarially indiscriminate, Steller sea lions feed on cod, flatfish, rockfish, salmon, herring, octopus, squid, pollock and mackerel—species that have been increasingly targeted or caught incidentally in North Pacific fisheries. Historically, Steller sea lions bred at the Channel Islands off southern California but have not been seen there since the 1980s. Nearly 50 years ago, western Alaska was home to more than 175,000 adult Steller sea lions. But since the 1970s, the population in U.S. waters has fallen between 70 percent to 80 percent—with rates declining over 5 percent annually—and the Steller sea lion is now listed as endangered. The Marine Mammal Center has rescued and treated several Steller sea lions in recent years; one female in particular, Artemis, rehabilitated as a neonate, has since been observed with a live pup of her own at Ano Nuevo Island, showing that rehabilitation from birth to release after almost a year in care can result in successful reproduction. 

Greatest threat: overfishing of prey, net entanglement, gunshots (!)

If you see one: You're likely to hear them before you see them—look for rookery clusters along the rocky shoreline of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Cuteness level, scale of 1 to 10: 9. Who doesn't love bulky, furry critters with whiskers and a belligerent bark? Hell, some of us are married to creatures like this.

Danger level, scale of 1 to 10: 6. Although more mobile in the sea than on land, Steller sea lions tend to avoid humans but can be aggressive and territorial on coastline rookeries during breeding season.

Did you know? The Steller sea lion got its name from Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist who described it as a "lion of the sea" because of its golden eyes and bellowing roar.

Coho salmon

Marin County is home to the largest wild population of endangered coho salmon in North-Central California. The Lagunitas Creek watershed, which flows from Mt. Tam to Tomales Bay, and includes San Geronimo Valley and Olema Valley, has held this honor for many years. Yet, says Christopher Pincetich, Ph.D., watershed biologist for SPAWN—the Marin nonprofit Salmon Protection and Watershed Network—coho populations were likely in the thousands at the beginning of the 20th century and "Now we are lucky to see hundreds returning to spawn. In the winter of 2008-09, fewer than 50 coho are thought to have returned to spawn, one of the lowest adult-coho returns on record for this watershed." Coho all over the state are struggling due to habitat degradation, loss of habitat to dams and development, and the effects of poor water quality. But SPAWN, at least, is dedicated to the ongoing protection and recovery of endangered coho in the Lagunitas watershed, focusing much of their efforts in the San Geronimo Valley to monitor and protect coho all year round, leading volunteer habitat restoration, staging fish rescues to save baby salmon in the summer, and running naturalist-led "creekwalks' to see spawning salmon each winter. For more info, visit www.SpawnUSA.org .

Greatest threat: coastal nutrient depletion, desiccating rivers, overfishing

Cuteness factor, on a scale of 1 to 10: 3. Coho have dark blue/green backs with silver sides that turn deep red when it's time to spawn, returning from the ocean to their native streams without eating (sometimes for several months) to mate... and then die. Cute!

Did you know?: One theory suggests that salmon find their way home to spawn by using their sense of smell, which is hundreds of times more acute than your ground-sniffing hound dog. If they do get lost, they'll always be welcome in Chiba, Japan, where they are the official state animal.

The name game: Coho salmon are also called silver salmon, sea trout or blueback. We prefer Oncorhynchus kisutch.

Pacific leatherback sea turtle

The Pacific leatherback is a 150 million-year-old species that outlived the dinosaurs—but whose populations have declined by roughly 90 percent in the last 25 years. Since 1970, the leatherback sea turtle—you may know it as Dermochelys coriacea—has been listed as endangered, and many biologists think the Pacific population will become extinct within a mere decade. The largest of all sea turtles, Pacific leatherbacks can grow to over 6 feet in length and weigh nearly a ton. They travel thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to the California coast to gorge on jellyfish—and can be seen along the coastlines of San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin counties from August until about November. Sea turtles eat primarily jellyfish, seaweed, crabs, shrimp, snails, algae and mollusks.

Greatest threat: accidental capture, overfishing of food source, egg harvest, alteration and destruction of nesting beaches, ocean pollution (plastic bags look like jellyfish!), net entanglement

Beach babe: Female turtles migrate hundreds of miles between nesting and feeding grounds, eventually returning to the same beach where they hatched to lay eggs.

Lifespan: Most sea turtles live 15 to 20 years, and can live as long as 80 years.

Cuteness factor, on a scale of 1 to 10: 8. One of the most charismatic megafauna, sea turtles are popular among volunteers, researchers, snorkelers and kids.

Danger factor, on a scale of 1 to 10: 2. Sea turtles are fairly mild-mannered but have been known to have a powerful snap when cornered. And it is, of course, illegal to touch them—even for a really good photo.

If you want to see one: The Marin-based nonprofit Sea Turtle Restoration Project and Pacific Environment's Marin Sanctuaries Campaign are hosting a special all-day Leatherback Cruise to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary on Oct. 10. Sea turtle experts who've been tagging and tracking leatherbacks all month will be on board to talk to the public. For more info, visit www.seaturtles.org or call Teri Shore at 415/663-8590, ext. 104.