Sea lions fly from Europe to Seward

Fresh off an 8,100-mile trip by jet and moving van from the Netherlands to the shores of Resurrection Bay, a 4-year-old female named Sitka and a 1-year-old male named Pilot arrived at the center about a week ago. They had been at Dolfinarim, Europe's largest marine mammal park that's in the Dutch town of Harderwijk.

"No problems, none in the least. Two of the calmest sea lions I've ever transported," said Brett Long, the center's director of husbandry who's moved the big mammals nearly a dozen times in his career.

Right now, the new sea lions, an endangered species, are in the middle of a 30-day quarantine, but they're expected to join Woody, Sugar, Eden and Tasu in the center's main habitat shortly.

And within months, the center hopes sea lion romance will bloom.

"We would hope to have successful breeding this summer," said Lori Polasek, lead scientist for the sea lion programs at the center. "Nobody in the U.S. has bred Steller sea lions in captivity since the mid '80s.

"Woody will be with three females (17-year-old Sugar is no longer in the mood for such dalliances), defending territory and herding them around. We'd expect breeding to peak in first few weeks of June, though males claim territory from May to August and typically keep watch over the females."

Seventeen-year-old Woody, a resident since the SeaLife center opened about a decade ago, won't face any competition from young Pilot for mates. They'll be separated for safety.

"Because we're so close to breeding season, we'll introduce Sitka to the females first -- then to Woody," Polasek said. "Pilot won't meet Woody this breeding season."

Any showdown between the two might be a mismatch. Although Pilot has quickly added weight to reach 488 pounds, he would still be giving up nearly 1,700 pounds and lots of savvy to Woody, who will exceed a ton by breeding season.

"Not to say Pilot couldn't hold his own," Polasek allowed. "He probably would fare very well."

The SeaLife Center is one of just three institutions in the U.S. with captive sea lions. Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut and the Oregon Zoo in Portland are the others.

Hosting isn't cheap. Each animal gulps about $1,000 worth of food a month. Herring, caplin and salmon are on the menu, with salmon always a favorite.

"They bring in these 3-foot salmon that look pretty good to me," Polasek said. "And in a gulp, they're gone."

Steller sea lions were listed as endangered in 1997 after the population in the western Aleutian Islands declined sharply from roughly a quarter-million in the early 1970s. In 2008, an estimated 45,000 sea lions survived. In eastern Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, Steller sea lions are considered threatened.

The cause of the decline is much debated. Some believe commercial fishing limits sea lion food. Others say killer whale predation is to blame. A 2009 paper by John Maniscalco, Daniel Hennen, and Pamela Parker of the SeaLife Center found reduced rates of reproduction in females and low juvenile survival.

In a draft biological opinion released seven months ago, National Marine Fisheries Service scientists said the adult Steller sea lion population in the westernmost Aleutians plunged 45 percent from 2000 to 2009, and the birth rate of new pups dropped nearly as much. Fishing restrictions were suggested.

"We need to mitigate the potential for competition for food in areas where the sea lion numbers are declining," Jim Balsiger, regional administrator for Alaska fisheries with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a press release.

While the cause of the decline is unknown, Balsiger said sea lions' food supply is considered crucial to recovery. Steller sea lions are primarily night feeders, diving down as far as 400 meters below the surface to feast on a wide range of fish species

Four months ago, Gov. Sean Parnell said National Marine Fisheries Service failed to make a rational connection between what it found and the conclusion it reached that fishing needs to be curtailed in the far western Aleutians because sea lions aren't getting enough to eat.

"The agency's conclusion that additional fishing restrictions are necessary is not supported by the best available scientific information," Parnell said.

At the Seward SeaLife Center, Polasek's research aims to pinpoint what the physical costs are for female sea lions raising their young, particularly during years in which they become pregnant again.

"It lets us ask questions we can't ask in the field," Polasek said. "Can they skip pupping because it's so demanding?"

For the past five years, Seward's SeaLife Center has operated video cameras at a rookery on Chiswell Island, 35 miles south of Seward as well as Seal Rocks, Grotto Island and a rookery near Prince William Sound. Helped by the video, scientists have found mothers can nurse pups up to 4 years old.

"That's a toll," Polasek said.

But so far, the new SeaLife Center residents are adapting.

"Both are doing very well," Long said.