Big Bite

February 10th, 2020 Species: Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) and Big Skate (Beringraja binoculata) Location: Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, British Columbia. As a wildlife guide in British Columbia, I often get the opportunity to coordinate with and assist various research groups throughout the area. In early February 2020, some colleagues and I set out to document Pacific Herring South of Victoria, BC, Canada. We find these inconspicuous but ecologically important fish by looking for large congregations of marine birds and gulls, signalling a bait ball of fish below the water’s surface. On this particular day we were not having much luck finding any evidence of fish near the surface, until we came near Race Rocks ecological reserve, a small group of islands overlooking the South Salish Sea. I noticed a large splash from the corner of my eye, and before we knew it, a large group of gulls, murres, and cormorants flooded the area. As we approached the commotion, we realized it wasn't a bait ball, but a Steller sea lion who had found lunch. Sea lions will bring large meals to the surface in order to throw and rip their meals apart, providing some easy scraps for the quickest gulls. I’ve witnessed Steller’s feeding on numerous species this way, including salmon, spiny dogfish, and other skate species, but never a Big Skate (Beringraja binoculata) like the one pictured here. It was easy to see that the sea lion had his work cut out for him, working the meal for about 10 minutes before the excitement stopped. In BC, pinnipeds such as Steller sea lions are often victimised and blamed for declining fish stalks, specifically salmon. Something many people fail to understand is that while these species do eat small amounts of salmon, they also consume and mitigate mesopredator populations that do far more damage, such as spiny dogfish, a species of shark in BC that has a particular affection for juvenile salmon. Steller’s have historically been subject to government mandated culls and are a constant target for ‘misinformed’ commercial fisherman. As their numbers begin to reach normalcy, so does this delicate ecosystem.