Ready for Round 2 with sea lions

As with children who don’t want to return to school, Newport Beach sailors and residents are facing their annual fight with sea lions who don’t want their Newport Harbor vacation to end.

“The big ones are old. They found a nice cushy place they don’t want to leave,” said Chuck South of the South Mooring Company.

For the second year in a row, the Newport Beach city leaders tapped South and his trusty vessel to keep sea lions from gathering and causing a racket around Newport Harbor.

“We’ve cut the crew in half; we have a much more powerful and capable boat with a water cannon,” South said.

Newport Beach residents have grown accustomed to, but not necessarily happy with, an annual wave of sea lions setting up camp in Newport Harbor.

Harbor Resources Director Chris Miller estimates that at their peak, there are up to 60 sea lions in the harbor this summer. The problem reached a fever pitch a few weeks ago.

“It was terrible in our harbor in late August and September. It was terrible,” Miller said. “Our phones were ringing off the hook.”

Like the saying with gorillas, sea lions can pretty much sit wherever they want.

Sea lions have been known to jump onto moors, boats and docks if they’re not properly blocked. When they crowd together at night, they get territorial and can bark up a storm until South answers the call, he said.

With a $13,500 budget through next June, Newport Beach city officials have South patrolling the harbor at night to keep the noise down. Lately, South has been patrolling up to five nights a week, blasting sea lions he sees congregating with his high-pressure water cannon.

“Every year they’re more aggressive; people are getting bit,” South said. “The day will come when the people in charge will have to manage the herd or it will get totally out of hand.”

To this point, the city is doing all it can by hiring South and keeping the public informed, Miller said.

A city ordinance penalizes property owners who don’t put up measures to block sea lions from congregating, he said. The Harbor Resources Department will look into re-educating the public to not feed sea lions or give them a place to congregate, he said.

“What we can do is work with pier permitees and moor permitees to be responsible for their own docks and boats,” he said. “I think the best thing we can do is stay on top of the problem...it’s difficult to manage wild animals. We’re doing our best.”