GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Hundreds of sea lions that abruptly blew out of San Francisco Bay’s Pier 39 around Thanksgiving have apparently found a new home at another tourist attraction — 500 miles north on the Oregon coast.
Thousands of California sea lions started showing up in December at Sea Lion Caves, a popular tourist draw because of the Stellar sea lions living there.
Scientists say there is no way to tell how many of the newcomers at the Oregon site, 11 miles north of the town of Florence, came from Pier 39. The numbers at the pier fell from a peak of 1,701 in October to just 20 by the end of November. But it is likely some made the trip, because they easily swim 100 miles a day searching for food between Mexico and Alaska.
Kim Raum-Suryan, a biologist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, noticed the number of California sea lions at Heceta Head had doubled to about 5,000 in December and, like other scientists, figures the simple answer is food.
There are fewer herrings in San Francisco Bay, and a general decline in sea lion food off California last summer triggered a die-off of young sea lions.
Meanwhile, anchovies have been plentiful in Oregon waters — so plentiful that brown pelicans that normally winter in California are also hanging around, said Bob Emmett, a biologist for NOAA Fisheries Service in Newport.
