Steller Sea Lion (Northern Sea Lion)

*** Final Canadian Management plan - see threats.

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessment.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for possible further reports on the species.

http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/harborseal/fastfacts.php  North Pacific University's Marine Mammal Research Consortium's excellent fast facts; also click "research" and "killer whales" for very current research issues

Species information by the Hakai Institute “Central Coast Biodiversity” http://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/marine-mammals.html

January to May 2015 (2016 too) - so many emaciated sea lions in California, both Steller Sea Lions and California Sea Lions. Here are examples of news items, you can Google many more http://io9.com/california-is-in-the-middle-of-a-sea-lion-crisis-1691634431 and http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/record-number-of-emaciated-sea-lion-pups-stranded-on-california-beaches-1.3071629

General article on the problem of sea lion entanglement and the work of the Vancouver Aquarium team http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/12/sea-lion-rescue_n_4952149.html

Video showing disentanglement of sea lions.

Do a Google search for “Steller sea lion entanglement”

North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Consortium

  1. -Fast Facts- http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/steller-sea-lion/

  2. -Research - http://www.marinemammal.org/?s=steller+sea+lion

  3. -Specific information for BC population

Video showing the work of Dr. Andrew Trites and his team in their research to find out why the Steller sea lions in the Western Aleutians (Alaska) are in trouble.

Vancouver Aquarium addresses theories on why 85% of the world’s Steller sea lions are disappearing.

Video of "Entanglement of Steller Sea Lions in Marine Debris: Identifying Causes and Finding Solutions". Difficult to watch but  . . . as always, education will lead to prevention.

NOAA’s page on entangled seals and sea lions - incidence and cause.


Death of California sea lions as a result of getting trapped in Atlantic fish farm nets near Tofino (April 20th, 2007).  Also a problem for Steller sea lions. 

http://www.cosewic.gc.ca/eng/sct7/sct7_3_2_e.cfm - see the 2nd paragraph for a summary of threats to BC's Steller sea lions

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species/species_stellersealion_e.asp  - DFO pages on threats and natural history.  Good summary. 

http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/search/speciesDetails_e.cfm?SpeciesID=326 - COSEWIC report on Steller sea lions

http://www.killerwhale.ca/animals-steller.html - Information from Environment Canada 2005

http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/mammals/whales/accounts/steller/steller.htm Information from the University of Guelph, Ontario.  Be sure to explore all the pages, links given on the left.

http://www.vanaqua.org/aquanews/video/ssl/episode1-big.html - video of the Steller sea lions team at the Vancouver Aquarium that are trained to help with research 

http://www.marinemammal.org/steller_sea_lion/lifespan.php - comparison between male, female and pup, life expectancy, video and sounds!

http://www.pacificwildlife.ca/stellersealion.htm - Pacific Wildlife Foundation - be sure you click all the tabs 

http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/stellers/recovery.htm - Draft revised recovery plan for Alaskan Eastern and Western populations (May 2007)

http://www.pinnipeds.org/species/steller.htm - Seal Conservation Society international information  

http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/stellers.html - quick facts from the Vancouver Aquarium

http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/marine_mammals.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=44 - lots of detail about identification some information about  behaviour and threats. An international webpage. 

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jaap/pinn-ota.htm Not a Canadian page

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eumetopias_jubatus.html  Not a Canadian page

http://www.dosits.org/animals/intro.htm - study how marine mammals make sound and how sound effects them.

http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/learning/education/pinnipeds/stellarsea.asp - This is an American website so be careful when using it for population estimates in BC and COSEWIC status in your report

http://www.marinemammal.org/2004/kodiak.html - current research and the “puzzle” of threats  Not a Canadian page

http://www.marinemammal.org/2005/fastfood.php - recent studies about "junk food" theory Not a Canadian page

http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/rreo/rreoref/mmammals/sealsandsealions.htm - report from 1984 from Michael Bigg and Peter Olesiuk; dated but still good natural history information

http://www.vanaqua.org/aquanews/archive.html - enter the species name in the search field to get any AquaNews bulletins posted by the Vancouver Marine Sciences Centre

http://library.thinkquest.org/25014/profiles/sealion/ - American webpage about threats to sealions, note that Stellers are endangered in the US but "of special concern" in Canada.

www.oceanlink.island.net - Bamfield Research Station’s detailed marine biology page search for your species

http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/ - Vancouver Aquarium’s web data base of frequently asked questions about marine ecosystems ; click "Steller Sea Lion"

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/intermediate.asp?curGroupID=5 - Click "marine mammals" and do a search for your animal. Excellent on-line field guides Not a Canadian page

 www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/mammals.htm and http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archivemammals.htm
- involvement of Lester B. Pearson School in a fantastic marine mammal project.  Search the site at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/web/sitemap.htm 

  http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/education/coastwatch/coastwatch.html - sea lions Not a Canadian page

http://netvet.wustl.edu/marine.htm  - net vet marine mammals; search links for information that may be relevant to your species Not a Canadian page.