There has been a wild sea lion frequenting the public sales float lately, and it has come to our attention that some people have been feeding the animal and otherwise encouraging it to remain in the area. While we appreciate that seeing wildlife can be exciting, we stress that feeding wildlife is both illegal and dangerous!

Recently, a little girl was pulled into the water while sitting on the bull rail on the public sales float, after her parents had been trying to get the animal’s attention as seen in this video, which has since gone viral. Thankfully, it appears that nobody was hurt during the incident. However, we wish to reiterate that Steveston Harbour Authority does NOT condone the feeding of any wildlife within the harbour. In addition to it being potentially dangerous, as seen in the video above, it is also in contravention of Section 7 of the Federal Fisheries Act and Marine Mammal Regulations which states “No person shall disturb a marine mammal except when fishing for marine mammals under the authority of these Regulations”.

Also, keep in mind that feeding wildlife can also be extremely detrimental to the animals themselves, as they may learn to associate humans with an easy source of food, which can lead to them not being able to successfully secure food in the wild.

For the sake of your own safety and for the safety of the animals themselves, do not feed the wildlife!