#16703

This sea lion was trying (and often succeeding) to steal fish from the fishermen's lines below the Jurien jetty.

When a fish was hooked it was a race to see who actually lands it, the fisherman or the sea lion.
It seems that the animal has got a little enthusiastic on occasion as it has some ganged hooks and portion of line trailing from it's mouth.

It doesn't seem to slow it down any so I hope it wasn't a long term problem.

In between stealing fish the sea lion posed for my camera. They really seem to be fun-loving animals and this one swam around in circles first giving me a left profile, then a right. Every now and then it seemed to nod off, with eyes closed and head and tail sinking below water level, held up by a fat-laden middle.


Jurien, WA

Technical: Canon T90, 200mm
Keywords: sea lion fish hooks steal jurien jetty race lands line mouth stealing eyes head water wa wildlife mammals seal nature hook