I am curious what would draw a harbor seal or CA sea lion so far up a river
at this particular time. Neither of these species are particularly adept at
catching fast fish and the fish currently in Snoqualmie and Skykomish
systems are winter steelhead, very fast and agile. The winter runs have
dwindled and so there are not many dead spawners to scavenge either. My
understanding of The reason seals and sea lions hang around dams and locks
is that there are concentrations of fish bunched up and thus easier to
catch. A wild fish in a river would be much more random to encounter and
also difficult to catch. Perhaps it was just exploring.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County


_____

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 12:59 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Harbor seal in Snoqualmie River


Scott,

Both Harbor Seals and California Sea Lions (and I think Steller's Sea Lions)
go way up the Columbia River and some of its lower tributaries. I'm not sure
how far, but in distance it's considerably farther than sightings in the
Snoqualmie or Tolt rivers from salt water. I know the sea lions are
considered pests below some of the Columbia River dams. Harbor Seals are in
Harrison Lake, on the Harrison River, a tributary far up the Fraser River.
Those salmon are just too attractive, and I think the smelt runs in the
Columbia also attract the pinnipeds.

Dennis


On Feb 16, 2009, at 12:00 PM, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu
wrote:


Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:39:15 -0800

From: Scott R a y <mryakima at gmail.com>

Subject: [Tweeters] Harbor seal in Snoqualmie River




Brien,

In 1974, while floating the Tolt River a short distance upstream from

Carnation, we were surprised to see a harbor seal. This wasn't very far from

your sighting.




How common is it to find marine seals this far upstream I wonder. (yes,

there are non-marine seals)




Scott R a y


-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net