Approximately 30 miles west of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, around the Farallon Islands, resides a population of fish-loving northern fur seals, according to National Geographic. After nearly going extinct by the middle of the 1800s, their numbers began to increase again and the species has thrived, although El Niño has been giving them trouble.
The effects of El Niños are widespread, but for these seals in particular the challenging offshore ocean conditions brought on by it will continue to affect this species and scientists warn that this could just be the beginning of the negative effects that come from this warming trend.
"Northern fur seals are dramatically affected by El Niños," said Tony Orr, a wildlife biologist with NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center, although he believes they still have time to recover. "Their numbers do get smacked down, and it takes a while, but they gradually recover."
The fur seal population in the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge has doubled from 666 to over 1,200 since 2013, which is a significant increase. However, this is far from the numbers back in the early 1800s, which were over 100,000 in the Farallons. After 40 years of human hunting and the use of their coats for fur, this number almost hit zero.
Now, the fur seals have to worry about El Niño, which is causing a warm water blob in the northern Pacific Ocean that has led to approximately 150 of them washing up along California beaches with extremely low weights.
"They're half of normal weight," said Shawn Johnson of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, where they focus on bringing pups back to normal health, according to North Coast News. "That's extremely small. You can hold them in your hands... and they will try to bite you."
Warm water conditions will likely continue to have dramatic effects on the fur seal population and, as their weights continue to decline, it will be harder for them to find food for themselves, according to California Diver.
