I am very grateful to Authors’ Lounge for allowing me to discuss my e-book, “A Sea Lion Sibling Story.” The e-book is simply about three male sea lions and their interaction with one another, with added human dialogue for humor. How do I know that the sea lions are male?
Well, male sea lions have a bump on their head which is called the sagittal crest. It takes about seven years for a male sea lion to fully mature. So, a big sagittal crest on a sea lion’s head means that the sea lion is fully mature. How do I know that the animals in the story are sea lions? Sea lions can walk using all four flippers unlike harbor seals which inch along on their bellies like earthworms.
What inspired me to write this e-book is I wanted to produce something that would make people laugh at its ridiculousness. Nonetheless, behind the simplicity of the story is the message of conversation and protection. I would not have been able to take the photographs I did if I had disturbed the sea lions or were too close to them. I used the zoom feature when taking the photographs.
Legal Protections and Guidelines
Sea lions are very smart, and it is very easy for them to become habitualized. So, do not feed sea lions because then they will associate humans with their meal ticket. The 1994 Amendment to the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits the harassment of marine mammals. One needs to stay 50 yards away from marine wildlife and stay 100 yards away from whales. In addition, in the word from the author section I mentioned that if you are a fisherman don’t shoot or fish bomb the sea lions. I added this because I wanted the public to be aware that fishermen do shoot and fish bomb pinnipeds.
A fish bomb is when fishermen put an explosive item in a fish and toss the fish into the water then the sea lion eats the fish, and the item explodes in the sea lion’s face. There are academic and scientific reports about sea lions and other pinnipeds being shot. For example, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMF “Sources of Human-Related Injury and Mortality for U.S. Pacific West Coast Marine Mammal Stock Assessments” reports published on 2016, 2019, 2020.
Human-Related Injuries and Conservation Efforts
Another example is the article, Goldstein, T., Johnson, S.P., Philips, A.V., Hanni, K.D, Fauquier, D.A, and F.M.D. Gulland (1999) Human-Related Injuries observed in live Stranded pinnipeds along the Central California Coast 19861988. Aquatic Mammals 25.1, 43-51. There have also been media posts regarding sea lions being shot see examples, “Sea Lion Blinded by Gunshot Wound Recovering in Sausalito” August 14, 2012, CBS San Francisco. Also, “Sea Lion with gunshot Wounds in Newport Beach is Euthanized” by Vera Castaneda, January 7, 2020. That is the message I want to get out to the public we need to conserve and protect our oceans and the creatures that live in it for a healthier world.
Educating the Public on Pinniped Conservation
One step in doing that is educating the public regarding what is going on with pinnipeds and the dangers they face from human interaction. Another danger for pinnipeds, especially harbor seal pups is maternal separation. Maternal separation is often caused by human interaction where as humans (for the lack of better term) mess with the harbor seal pup resulting in the harbor seal mother abandoning the pup. Maternal separation can kill. My goal for this e-book is for it to be a conversation starter regarding what we humans can do to better conserve and protect wildlife and their homes.
I encourage readers to investigate what local organizations are available to help sick, injured, or harassed marine mammals and to contact them when needed.While this e-book is about sea lions this is not a story for children because of the language that is used in the story. I hope readers of this story can laugh at it and find it silly, because that is what it is a silly sea lion story. The e-book can be found on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
Please see the link here:
Thanks for publishing a fun story about the day to day observations one has with these wonderful animals! And for describing how to support them by maintaining distance and fighting against violence against them (it’s so sad there are people who shoot them!!!!).