The hulking carcasses of four California sea lions, victims of gunshot wounds and an apparent drowning, dotted Half Moon Bay's normally pristine beaches Monday morning.
The mammals do wash up on local beaches on occasion, but the discovery of the animals this weekend shocked state Parks and Recreation officials and beachside residents.
Bill Montgomery, a Miramar resident who works as a docent at An^To Nuevo State Reserve, said he often sees marine mammals wash up in the winter, but was surprised to see dead animals in the spring.
"All of a sudden four in two days," he said, adding that he spoke with a teen-ager who saw two sea lions in the surf Saturday, possibly still alive and struggling to get ashore.
According to state Parks and Recreation officials, three of the animals, all males, had been freshly killed and washed up sometime Saturday night. Two animals, one found at Dunes Beach and the other near the mouth of Medio Creek, had thumb-size bullet holes in their heads. The third, found near Venice Beach, had net-like abrasions on its hind legs, markings that indicate the animal was held underwater by a net, according to Ray Bandar, a field associate with the California Academy of Sciences and an expert in marine mammals who was called in Monday to examine the carcasses.
The fourth animal, a five-and-a-half foot male found on Roosevelt Beach had been dead for several days. It too had been shot in the head.
After being contacted by state parks, Bandar conducted preliminary autopsies on the animals, removing their heads for further laboratory study, and to verify their age and species.
Bandar speculated the sea lions were killed by fishermen, as the mammals often follow fishing boats, both commercial and recreational, sometimes pulling salmon directly off fishing lines. One of the animals was found with a decaying salmon in its throat.
"(Fishermen) have been shooting these animals since way back," Bandar said.
Fishermen have complained bitterly in recent years that the growing population of sea lions has made their jobs exceedingly difficult. Duncan MacLean, vice president of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association, said while seeing a dead animal wash up on the beach can be unpleasant, the laws that protect them are "unwarranted and unfounded."
On a salmon-fishing trip to the Farallon Islands on Monday, MacLean said he lost five fish to sea lions to every one he caught. The day before, MacLean claims he lost 10 fish to every one he hooked.
"I've never had so many problems," said the El Granada resident. "We are not the predators. We are the preyed upon. It's time that people got the word."
In their zeal to protect sea lions, environmentalists have upset the marine ecosystem, MacLean said, allowing the sea lion population to skyrocket.
Sally Smith, director of communications for the Marine Mammal Center in Sausilito, said the number of sea lions found with gunshot wounds is increasing and many are shot multiple times.
"Obviously a lot of anger is being directed at these animals," she said, adding that it is easy to blame the animals for the depletion of fisheries, while other man-made factors, such as pollution and overfishing, are the reasons for fishery loss.
"The sea lion has been fishing a lot longer than us," she added.
Bandar, who has been working for the Academy of Science since 1956, said sea lions found with gunshot wounds were much more common before the passage of the Marine Mammal Act in 1973, a law that protects the animals. The penalty for killing a sea lion, which is not listed as threatened or endangered, is $5,000. It could also carry a five-year jail sentence.
With a collection of rusty knives and scalpel blades wrapped in a dirty handkerchief, Bandar hiked out to Dunes Beach Monday morning to perform his work on the largest animal, a seven-foot male.
"This is a recently dead animal," he said as he looked it over. "You can tell by the eyes."
As he cut away the flesh around the sea lion's head, he discovered that the bullet had shattered the animals' skull.
Bandar has performed more than 1,000 seaside necropsies on sea lions. Often he finds animals that have been vandalized or had their large canine teeth removed as souvenirs. Unless it is a rare species, such as the Stellar sea lion, which is listed as endangered, the headless animal is left on the beach.
In addition to gunshot wounds, many animals die of parasite infections and shark attacks, he said. For most of the animals he finds, the cause of death is unknown, he said.
Bandar chooses not to weigh in on one side or the other in the debate over the sea lion. While some marine mammals are endangered and in short supply, the California sea lion faces no such threats, he said.
"There's no shortage of these guys." Mark Jordan / Review Ray Bandar of the California Academy of Sciences examines a dead sea lion Monday morning at Dunes Beach. The mammal had washed ashore Saturday night with a gunshot wound to its head.