Sea Lion Caves News
Sixty-eight Years of Conservation
posted onOregon is home to one of the most successful examples of private wildlife conservation in the country. A familiar family stop on Route 101 between Newport and Florence, the Sea Lion Caves has been operated as a family-owned, for profit business since 1932. It receives 200,000 visitors a year, is home to an average of 200 Northern, or Steller, sea lions, and serves as the only mainland breeding and wintering area for these mammals.
Over the past century, man has been the primary predator of the sea lion. Lacking commercial value themselves, sea lions were thought to pose a threat to the commercially valuable salmon industry by feeding on the salmonids and disrupting the salmon runs. They also damaged fishing nets and equipment. By the end of the 19th century, the commercial fishing industry had begun hiring sea lion bounty hunters.
In 1920 our legislature asked the State Fish Commission to exterminate the entire popular of seal and sea lions along the Oregon Coast, which was estimated to be about 3,000. A bounty of $5 each was placed on the animals. The aptly named William Hunter, who is reported to have killed some 10,000 seals and sea lions along the Oregon and Washington coasts from 1914-1920, became the chief bounty hunter and collected $5,000 in 1921 alone.
In 1927, while the State of Oregon was paying for the slaughter of sea lions and seals, R.E. Clanton purchased America's largest sea cave with plans to open it as a business. Sea Lion Caves opened five years later. The original and subsequent owners spent much of their time driving off the bounty hunters.
Over time, and under pressure from conservationist and tourism promoters, Oregon revised is sea lion policy. Indeed, today it is illegal to kill or harass marine mammals, and the Steller Sea Lions in residence at the Sea Lion Caves are now listed as a threatened species.
Regardless of official government policy, the Sea Lion Caves have maintained a role of private stewardship for the last 68 years. Mindful that their profitability depends on the presence of the animals, the owners take every precaution against disrupting the natural habitat. Thus, tourists are fenced out at a distance close enough for viewing, while the animals are free to come and go, unlike in an aquarium or zoo. Further, maintenance and improvements are undertaken only when the wildlife will not be disturbed.
The careful stewardship at the Sea Lion Caves has paid off: the population of the Steller Sea Lion along the Oregon coast has increased from 1,000 in 1964 to approximately 4,000 today.
Given the bounty placed on the sea lion's heads at the beginning of this century, the current owners are especially proud of what has been accomplished - practicing conservation well before it became fashionable and well before the caves began to turn a profit. The Sea Lion caves demonstrate that making a living and preserving wildlife can be compatible.
