‘Like a biker gang’: Sea lions pack Vancouver Island beach for herring feast

Andrew Johnson takes a closer look as more than a hundred sea lions have taken over a Vancouver Island beach, putting on quite a show.

DEEP BAY, B.C. — A stretch of beach on Vancouver Island has been overtaken by a boisterous, blubbery spectacle that’s drawing curious crowds.

Hundreds of California sea lions have hauled themselves onto a small beach in Deep Bay, B.C., feasting on herring and creating a raucous scene that can be heard long before it’s seen.

The people stopping by to take a closer look are thrilled.

“I think it’s pretty phenomenal,” said a woman who drove close to an hour from Nanaimo. “They’re just hanging out talking to each other, being chubby and adorable,” noted another observer.

Some of the animals appear so stuffed they can barely keep their eyes open, dozing in piles on the beach while others bark and shuffle around them.

Marine mammal experts say the behaviour is typical for male California sea lions that travel north during the annual herring spawn.

“When they arrive, it’s almost like a biker gang has shown up for a convention,” said Andrew Trites, the director of the UBC Marine Mammal Research Unit.

“Sometimes they go back to the same spots and sometimes they discover a new hangout. They essentially roar into town and will roar right out again,” Trites told CTV News.

He says there is no better fish in the ocean for sea lions than herring, making it more than worth travelling for.

“They’re just like sticks of butter to them,” Trites said. “If you’re a male California sea lion, you’re not watching your waist. You’re hoping to put on as many pounds as you can as fast as you can, because the whole goal is to get back to California looking super sexy.”

It is back home in California and Mexico, where the female sea lions are waiting ahead of breeding season that typically begins in June.

Until then, in Deep Bay, as long as the herring run continues, so will the noisy gathering and natural spectacle that one Vancouver Islander called amazing. “We won the lotto, we live here.”