16 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
THE A^O NUEVO STELLER SEA LION ROOKERY 
By Barton Warren Evermann 
[Plates 1-3] 
For many years the relation of the sea lions to the commercial fish- 
eries of the California coast has been a matter of much concern. The 
commercial fishermen have, with scarcely an exception, contended that 
the sea lions are very destructive to the fisheries. There are two 
species, the Steller sea lion {Eumetopias stelleri) and the California sea 
lion (Zalophus calif ornianus) , and they are both condemned by the 
fishermen. The former has rookeries from San Miguel Island north- 
ward, the latter ranges from San Francisco southward, the two species 
overlapping at the Golden Gate. 
Complaints that the sea lions are very destructive to the fisheries, 
especially of Monterey Bay and vicinity, come in periodically to the 
Lighthouse Service and to the California Fish and Game Commission. 
The commercial fishermen have urged that the seals be exterminated, 
or at least that their numbers be greatly reduced. Usually these 
requests have been denied, chiefly on the ground that the feeding habits 
of the sea lions of the California coast have not been studied sufficiently 
to determine to what extent, if at all, they are destructive to the com- 
mercial fisheries. 
In the summer of 1899, the late Prof. L. L. Dyche made some study 
of this question in and near Monterey Bay. Professor Dyche exam- 
ined the stomachs of 25 sea lions and found not a trace of fish in any of 
them. In the summer of 1901, at the instance of the California Fish 
and Game Commission, the matter was again taken up, and a special 
commission of three naturalists was appointed to make an investiga- 
tion. The commission consisted of the late Cloudsley Rutter of the 
United States Fish Commission, Prof. Edwin C. Starks representing 
the California Academy of Sciences, and Robert E. Snodgrass for the 
California Fish and Game Commission. These investigators began 
their work July 10, at the Purissima rookery, a few miles south of San 
Francisco. They visited most of the rookeries on the coasts of Cali- 
fornia, Oregon, and Washington, including Ano Nuevo and the Faral- 
lons. They killed and examined stomach contents of 18 Steller sea 
lions and 24 California sea lions. The stomachs of only 26 (13 of each 
species) contained food. All of the Stellers had eaten fish, and five 
had eaten squid or octopus. The number of squid was small, six being 
