SB Sea Lions Go to Sacramento!
Jan 27, 2025
Not long ago, Get Hooked Co-Owner, Victoria Voss, was in Sacramento for a Fertilizing Materials workshop put on by the CDFA. Our work in building a fish-to-farm program is ongoing. Imagine her surprise when she heard the familiar bark of California sea lions coming from the river.
But how could this be? Sacramento is practically landlocked! An hour from the sea, at least!
She learned something new through a quick Google search. Much like Victoria, these sea lions were visitors from the Santa Barbara Channel. They’d popped up to Sacramento and swam upriver for a snack: King salmon, recently arrived for their seasonal spawn. Both sea lion and salmon would have made their way through the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta via the San Francisco Bay.
These blubbery neighbors of ours migrate all over the Pacific in search of food, often following salmon runs upstream into freshwater habitats. We are jealous that they get to make food tourism forays to feast on California King Salmon this year, while we wait for our salmon fishery to re-open. But we are grateful that the salmon are still there to support the whole ecosystem.
King salmon season in California is in the fall, but the fishery was required to close in 2023 and 2024 due to low stock. We’re crossing our fingers for a robust fall 2025 season after two years of halting fishing efforts and, in the meantime, will have to munch vicariously through our roving resident sea lions (or simply buy Alaskan King!).