San Francisco’s famed Fisherman’s Wharf district is seeing a surge in sea lions.
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00:00 [CHILDREN PLAYING]
00:03 The numbers that we're seeing right now are over 1,000.
00:16 We've counted them.
00:18 And they're over 1,000.
00:20 And this is unusual because--
00:22 well, when they first came here, historically,
00:26 in the early '90s, we did have these kind of numbers.
00:29 In fact, they got up to 1,700 sometimes.
00:31 But over the years, that's dwindled down
00:34 to an average, I would say, of between 300 and 400
00:37 in the winter.
00:38 And as the spring comes in, maybe up to 700.
00:42 So you're looking at almost double the numbers.
00:46 And the reason they've arrived is
00:48 there's a huge school of anchovy that
00:51 was off the Farallon Islands that's in the bay right now.
00:54 So it's all about the seafood.
00:56 It's all about the food.
00:58 And these animals, a lot of them are on their way
01:00 down south at the moment.
01:02 A big herd of them are on the way down south
01:04 for the mating season.
01:05 We actually build these here.
01:11 And we have to use three times the density of flotation
01:15 that we do on the normal docks.
01:17 These are custom-made to support these guys.
01:20 We've never had one sink or capsize yet.
01:23 But you know--
01:24 They're getting put to the test now, for sure.
01:26 I think we are close to our maximum, for sure.
01:29 It is crazy.
01:34 I've never seen that many sea lions in one place.
01:37 And I heard about that place.
01:39 And we came here a few minutes ago.
01:41 And it's awesome to see them.
01:42 It's very loud, of course.
01:43 But it's really nice to see all of them.
01:45 And it's funny to watch them fight and relax in the sun.
01:49 It's not like in a zoo.
01:55 They're not trapped.
01:55 They can be here if they want to be here.
01:57 But it's just so cool to see them all here.
01:59 And it's so interesting.
02:00 They're so loud.
02:01 The bay is very healthy right now.
02:08 If it wasn't, we wouldn't see these kind of numbers,
02:11 for sure.
02:12 So it's good news all around.
02:14 [SEALS BARKING]
02:18 (children laughing)