Fishing for answers

Daerr, Elizabeth

Glacier Bay, Alaska, provides new birthing grounds for Steller sea lions, whose overall numbers are down. Although the western population of the Steller sea lion has declined as much as 75 percent during the last 20 years, the eastern population, from Southeast Alaska through California, appears healthy. Evidence of the change can be seen at one place that has become a haven for the species: Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. As many as 700 to 900 Steller sea lions use a site located on the outer region of the park, and at another haul-out located inside Glacier Bay proper, South Marble Island, numbers have increased from about 50 sea lions in the 1980s to 300 to 500 today. The population of Steller sea lions in Southeast Alaska is growing at nearly two percent each year, but the annual rate at South Marble Island is more than 30 percent. The shift in distribution of more sea lions using Glacier Bay now than a decade ago may be attributed to a shift in food supply. Shifting and dwindling food supplies are most likely to blame for the sea lion's rapid decline. How environmental changes in the water may be affecting the distribution and abundance of fish that the sea lions eat is being researched. Another factor being researched is the influence of the commercial fishing industry on the species and its food supply. Suspecting that commercial fishing has depleted some of the animal's food supplies, the National Marine Fisheries Service enacted emergency regulations in January 2001 to protect stocks of pollock and cod in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. Poor nutrition is taking the greatest toll on the juveniles but research indicates that the number of nursing pups is rising. Though there are far fewer Steller sea lions today than in 1741, there is some optimism about the species' ability to survive.

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