Surfboard Stealers—California Surfers Make Way For New Members Of The Lineup

From Trestles to Mavericks, California is home to both the most forgiving and advanced surf breaks of anywhere in the world. A typical morning out in the lineup can be an unparalleled opportunity for surfers of all levels to view a menagerie of marine life—pelicans soaring overhead, seals writhing through the green waves, silvery baitfish glinting in the sun, pods of dolphins gliding past.

Save for extremely rare encounters with the local “men in gray suits” (California is home to an ample population of Great White sharks, the majority of which do not pose a significant threat to humans) or a collision with a stingray, skirmishes with oceanic wildlife are usually unlikely. But this summer, headlines have been dominated by two notorious marine mammals infiltrating the lineups.

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San Diego Surf Receives Seal Of Approval

Sharing the waves is a common surfing sentiment, but Sammy the seal and Otter 841 are blurring the boundaries of human-wildlife interaction in the ocean. Sammy, a baby seal who frequents San Diego’s Pacific Beach, has since become a regular at Tourmaline Surf Park, where he’s taken to sharing surfers’ boards. Demonstrating atypical friendly behavior, drone operator Ed Hartel (@dronedudeed) who regularly captures surfers from above, has recorded multiple interactions and playful encounters between the surfers and Sammy, who’s nicknamed after a character in a children’s book called “Sammy the Seal”.

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Local marine experts have been deployed to check on him, but the pup was deemed healthy. While surfers and scientists have hypothesized that perhaps the reason for his odd behavior is nearby sharks or a lost seal parent, the explanation for his comfort around humans hasn’t been identified. Over the course of several weeks, he’s established himself a regular in the lineup, sliding up onto surfers’ boards, and, like something out of a Pixar movie, positioning himself as if he’s trying to take off for a ride himself.

Surfboard Snatcher Takes Santa Cruz

Perhaps Sammy has taken inspiration from another board-riding mammal further up the coast. A 5-year-old female sea otter in Santa Cruz has built quite a reputation of harassing locals at the famed surf spot Steamer Lane.^[1] While many poked fun at the videos circulating social media—surfers sliding off their boards as the otter boarded their vessel, in some cases gnawing at soft-top foam—the interaction is a serious dilemma for local wildlife organizations.^[2] An otter bite can cause serious injury, and although the board-hijacking animal in question has yet to cause harm to the other surfers populating the lineup, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believe that she poses a public safety risk to those participating in ocean recreation activities. 

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Born to a mother who was moved to captivity due to her own penchant for human interaction^[3], Otter 841 was first released to the wild in 2020, but has only started exhibiting her behavior this past year. Despite marine lab personnel wearing otter costumes when interacting with her, the animal is still more accustomed to interacting with humans than she should be.^[4] Experts have hypothesized that she may be pregnant, which can cause hormonal surges in female otters, but have no way of knowing for certain until she’s caught and tested.

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Despite Southern sea otters being protected under the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and California law, experts and officials say that they have no choice but to catch and rehome her to a USFWS-approved location, preventing her from returning to the wild. While many local surfers, environmental activists, and adoring onlookers have protested, stating that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary should be just that, officials have deemed her “un-releasable.”

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) representatives believe that the longer the delinquent otter is on the loose, the more serious repercussions she may face, with consequences ranging from intestinal blockage from all the styrofoam she’s been nibbling^[5] to the very worst-case scenario, possible euthanization if she injures a human. But despite their best efforts, 841 has continued to evade multiple capture attempts from California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Monterey Bay Aquarium, who’ve attempted to track her down via land, air, and sea.

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Environmental Stewardship In The Surf

The California coastline is home to robust marine environments, including dense kelp forests, rocky reefs, and intertidal zones coming to life when the tide washes in—all which support a variety of marine life, from single-celled algae to apex predators. And yet, even the most avid surfer is just a visitor in the vast watery home of these marine mammals. 

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The Sierra Club’s Seal Society of San Diego has long cautioned local beachgoers to give marine mammals their distance—advising keeping a minimum of 50 feet away from the creatures. While these recent marine mammal encounters initially took local surfers by surprise, they’ve generally practiced responsible environmental stewardship, sliding off their boards and holding on to them in the water to give the animals space. 

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The antics of Sammy and Otter 841 have already made the rounds on social media, but they’re more than a funny video to linger on for a moment before scrolling past. They offer a critical moment of reflection on human-wildlife interaction protocol, which isn’t always a clearly-defined set of rules. The responsibility to protect sea life doesn’t just fall to large conservation organizations—from sunbathers to surfers, every ocean visitor has a part to play in preserving marine environments and their inhabitants. Above all else, it’s critical for every ocean-goer to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of the living things that call the ocean home.