If Alameda's small colony of Pacific harbor seals keeps a safe spot to soak up the sun, rest between dives and perhaps produce a pup or two, the credit will go to local environmentalist Richard Bangert.
Bangert has been the main person — the only one, really — to alert the Water Emergency Transit Authority (WETA) to the presence of a regular haul-out spot for the seals at Alameda Point.
The haul-out, a decades-old pier left over from Naval Air Station Alameda days, would be demolished under WETA's current plans for a ferry maintenance and operations center at the Point. (WETA operates the San Francisco Bay Ferry system.)
But that could change, according to Michael Gougherty, senior planner at WETA.
"It's honestly the first time the haul-out has been on our radar," Gougherty told Alameda Patch by phone on Friday.
He said environmental reviews of the WETA project didn't note the presence of the seals and their haul-out spot. It wasn't until the last few weeks, when Bangert alerted WETA staff, that the agency was aware of the spot. (The EIR did cite occasional use by harbor seals of Breakwater Island further out in the channel.)
Plans for the ferry center — a four-story building on a four-acre site that's owned by the City of Alameda, plus berthing facilities for 12 ferries — call for removing a number of old piers, many of them underwater. Those include the small pier, just above water level, that's used regularly by about eight harbor seals.
Bangert would like to see WETA provide a floating platform that could be used by both the seals and by seabirds. He's concerned about maintaining a haul-out space both during construction and after the ferry center is completed.
Gougherty said Friday, "We can't speak to the feasibility yet, but I'm hoping we can look into this and see if there's a way it can be done easily. Common sense would dictate that if we can do anything, we should."
He said the project is still in the early stages of approval. It's being considered by the Design Review Board of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) tonight, but it will be another one to three monhs before the full commission considers the proposal, Gougherty said.
Bangert is a local painting contractor who reports regularly on land use, wildlife and toxic waste clean-up through his blog, the Alameda Point Environmental Report. He also blogs for Alameda Patch regularly and writes for the Alameda Sun.
He says that lately he's seen seals on the haul-out dock on a daily basis. He says that they may form something of a family group, as there are usually seals of different sizes (and, presumably, ages).
The Alameda group is small enough that it doesn't show on a map of harbor seal haul-out sites prepared by Save the Bay. Most of those sites are clustered between San Francisco and Marin County, while two sloughs near Newark are primary pupping areas for the Bay's seals.
According to an undated report from Earth Island Institute's San Francisco Bay Seal Project, the number of Pacific harbor seals in the Bay has remained relatively steady since the early 1970s, although the seal population has increased elsewhere along the California coast.
Under both the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and state law, it is illegal to disturb resting harbor seals. The seals are more easily disturbed by human activity than their boisterous "cousins," the sea lions, so boaters are asked to give them a wide berth.
Related articles:
"Alameda Point Ferry Facility Hearing - January 6th"
For more information about WETA and Pacific harbor seals:
http://www.watertransit.org/
Alameda Point Environmental Report
Marine Mammal Center: Pacific Harbor Seal
Save the Bay: Protecting Harbor Seals in San Francisco Bay
High Time For Harbor Seal Pupping: Experts Say Give These Shy Animals a Wide Berth (Bay Nature, April 2011)
Scientists focus on harbor seals as 'samplers of the environment' (San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 4, 2014)
'Like' Alameda Patch on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter @AlamedaPatch / Share your thoughts in the comments section below
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
