Marine Mammal Release in Bodega Bay!

This weekend, the Marine Mammal Center held its first release in Bodega Bay! Yesterday, just north of Portuguese Beach, they returned eight of their young rehabilitated patients to the sea. It was such an exciting event, this blog post is longer and filled with many more photos than usual. (You can enlarge each image by clicking on it.)

The Marine Mammal Center, based in Sausalito, rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured, sick and orphaned marine mammals along 600 miles of California coast, from San Luis Obispo up through Mendocino. They rescue approximately 600-800 mammals per year, including harbor seals, sea lions, elephant seals, and sea otters, most of whom are suffering from malnutrition and the diseases it can cause, or injuries, often caused by human litter.

I remember when the Marine Mammal Center first started back in 1975. Some of their volunteers would bring their processing into our family's photo shop, SeaWood Photo in San Anselmo, and I loved hearing stories about the incredible work they were undertaking. Before The Center was established, stranded marine mammals were either left to die or were killed by authorities.

What a wonderful success story, they've come so far since then. They now have five locations including their newly rebuilt, state of the art, environmentally-friendly facility in Sausalito, and 800 volunteers plus staff. And in addition to rescue, they do research and have an active education program. During rehabilitation, Marine Mammal Center scientists conduct research on marine mammal disease immunology and publish research findings in scientific journals. Strict protocols ensure that the animals' health is not harmed during the course of their studies. This research contributes to our understanding of marine mammal illness as well as the overall health of our greatest resource, the ocean.


The Bodega Bay release was an incredible sight to behold. Executive Director Dr. Jeff Boehm gave a talk and explained that they were releasing seven harbor seal pups and one young sea lion. The harbor seals ranged in age from 2-3 months and each had been rescued while only a day or two old. They'd been found abandoned on various beaches suffering from severe malnutrition. The Center fed them well, nursed them back to health, then made sure they could track and catch live fish on their own before deeming them rehabilitated, all the while taking great care not to get too friendly or treat them as pets. They try to prevent the pups from becoming tame by taking several precautions. Contact is kept at a minimum; unnecessary handling such as cuddling or pampering is not allowed. Keeping several pups together in the same pen promotes socialization with each other and not with people. It's important that they remain wild so they can integrate back into their natural lives.



The Marine Mammal Center places orange tags on their patients' flippers. Some also have red "hat tags" on their heads and a few even have satellite transmitters. Local biologists, fishermen, and marine mammal observers report tag numbers that are resighted in the wild back to The Center. This helps the scientists follow the behaviors of the mammals as well as learn more about the overall health of the ocean. The hat tags come off with their first molt.

The young sea lion had been brought in the day before, suffering from a fishhook wound, and was treated quickly and ready to be released. When he finally emerged from his cage, he confidently strutted right down to the surf and swam out into the wild. He looked so small and vulnerable, a lot of people on shore were choked up.







Next came the harbor seal pups. They were timid and somewhat wary of the surf, remember they were rescued when they were only a day or two old.








Eventually several of them banded together and slowly flopped toward the water.






After being tossed and rolled a bit by the waves and washed back up onto the beach a few times, they finally caught on and made their way through the breaking waves and started out to sea. Gradually two more followed them.









But one little guy (or girl?) had a tougher time. He was repeatedly washed back on shore and just couldn't quite figure out how to make it through that first tier of breaking waves. He drifted down to a rocky area, which had us all worried he'd get injured on the jagged rocks, then he worked his way back over to the open section of the beach.



A number of concerned Marine Mammal Center volunteers monitored his progress and were ready to step in if he started to show signs of exhaustion. At last, the little guy figured it out and worked his way through the waves and on to his new life in the ocean. Volunteers will continue to monitor the beach all weekend, in case any of the released patients come back on shore.



One of the reasons the Marine Mammal Center chose Bodega Bay for this release is that previous tracking revealed many of their patients travel north to our area, where we have a lot of harbor seals and sea lions. You may have seen the seals on the beach at Jenner, or heard the sea lions barking out on Bodega Rock. As we watched the little guys make their way out to the huge ocean, it was comforting to know there were so many of their kind nearby.

The lovely Sissy Blanchard, owner of Gourmet Au Bay, donated 10% of all sales yesterday to the Marine Mammal Center.

Our County Supervisor Efren Carillo came to witness this exciting event.

Each year, the Marine Mammal Center's education programs reach about 30,000 kids and adults. Marine science instructors speak about the importance of marine mammals, the health of the marine environment, and how to become stewards of our oceans. Their new facility is open to the public and includes exhibits and open viewing areas. They're open for self-guided tours daily 10 am to 5 pm and group tours are available. They also have an interpretive center at San Francisco's PIER 39 and a traveling Whale Bus.

What to do if you see a marine mammal in distress: Click here.

24 Hour Rescue Lines (to report a stranded marine mammal)
In the San Francisco Bay Area including San Jose, San Mateo, Marin and Sonoma Counties call: 415.289.SEAL (7325)
In the Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties call: 831.633.6298.
In the San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay Counties call: 805.771.8300

Want to volunteer for the Marine Mammal Center? Click here.

The Marine Mammal Center is a nonprofit, supported by donations from folks like us. Learn more about how to support them here.

The Marine Mammal Center
Marin Headlands
2000 Bunker Road
Fort Cronkhite
Sausalito, CA 94965
Main Line: 415.289.7325