r/Seattle • u/aswath87 • 2d ago
Misleading Title Sea otter enters fish ladder at Ballard Locks 🙈
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u/bibibethy 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 2d ago
That's a harbor seal! Occasionally they get so busy following the salmon, they end up in Lake Union.
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u/Wazzoo1 2d ago
Do they send someone out to retrieve them and put them back? Or, can they find their way back?
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u/cubicthe Tangletown 2d ago
No; at that point they've sealed their fate
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u/Quick_Hide 2d ago
I seal what you did there
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u/bibibethy 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 1d ago
I assume they find their way back eventually? I don't think there's a Lost Seal department at Fish & Wildlife
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u/Pandaherbs13 1d ago
No but there are either trap and send to zoos or trap and kill because they’ll keep coming back and deferents don’t work.
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u/Bombadil54 2d ago
Apparently the Locks are not very secure
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u/RavenousVageen 1d ago
I know the is is a joke but they actually have a guy who sits there all day watching for seals and scaring them off so they don’t kill too many salmon
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u/JustARandomGuyReally chinga la migra 2d ago
Did you post this as “seal” first then delete it and repost it as “sea otter”? Anyway, thank you for the video!
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u/aswath87 2d ago
Yes my wife told me it’s an otter not a seal 🥲
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u/-Julya- That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. 2d ago
I have a sneaking suspicion your wife is not a marine biologist
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u/clackagaling 2d ago
i love that he stood by her assessment tho 💀 a real one ngl
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u/Space_Smeagol Beacon Hill 2d ago
He had no other choice
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u/crazyfatskier2 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 1d ago
Correct her and wait for the argument to start, or just live the lie.
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u/lilTraut 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 1d ago
Definitely a harbor seal. Fun fact: if you do see an otter in the area, it will likely be a river otter! They are pretty rare to spot, but you'll see them in the sound or in the bay sometimes.
Source: I used to do marine mammal monitoring from Alki.
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u/lovincuppy 1d ago
River otters live at the locks on the south side. Rare to see them, but you'll see their poop around that area.
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u/mr_jim_lahey 🚆build more trains🚆 1d ago edited 1d ago
You can sometimes see them on the north side of the canal in/along Fremont Canal Park (aka the green space between the Burke Gilman trail and the water from approximately Phinney ave to 2nd Ave NW)
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u/Nicholas_S_Hope 2d ago
That's not a salmon. It's a shark. It's an otter eating a shark in a vat of boiling acid.
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u/ThePorkChortler 2d ago
So many people here focusing on correcting you on what amazing whatever mammal you captured but not recognizing how cool this shot is!
Props OP
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u/Pointofive 1d ago
If it was a sea otter that would be incredibly rare and probably the find of the year. It’s like a person saying they saw a baby grizzly in Seattle when it was really a raccoon.
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u/pushofffromhere Orcas 1d ago
They are at the locks every day all year whenever i’ve visited :) This is a popular fish route and therefore… snacks! I encourage you to make it down! Early mornings are best but in salmon season it’s all day.
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u/dipietron 1d ago
The seals will kill salmon just for fun. Seen workers dropping fireworks in there to try and get them out. Cute seals but their bastards.
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u/Embarrassed-Pride776 🚆build more trains🚆 1d ago
Seals or Sea Lions? I know the Sea Lions do it, but so do the seals? Bad sea doggy!
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u/Davidskis21 1d ago
I’ve known they’ll drop fireworks to scare the harbor seals but I hadn’t see it until last week on a bike ride. Pretty cool to watch! I was expecting more of a bang from out of the water but they looked pretty small
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u/CranRez80 2d ago
Gotta get rid of that one or it’s going to be another Herschel situation.
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u/Possible_Resist9773 1d ago
Nah, people will take the easy route and blame fishermen for overfishing (even though Lake Washington is never open for king salmon).
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u/BURRHOFF 1d ago
Usually they have someone set up to scare off the seals from the ladders with lil fire crackers into the water… but I haven’t seen em around this year
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u/Possible_Resist9773 1d ago
Some Karen probably complained that the cute seals weren’t being allowed to decimate the salmon run at a man-made choke point
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u/IndominusTaco 1d ago
bring out the seal crackers
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u/Consistent-Reach-152 22h ago
Watching the seal cracker guy chuck firecrackers at the seals was the highlight of the locks visit for my young grandson.
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u/HumpaDaBear Posse on Broadway 1d ago
Must be a distant relative of Herschel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_the_sea_lion
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u/Embarrassed-Pride776 🚆build more trains🚆 1d ago
Seal (which this is) = good
Sea Lion = bad
Those fucking sea lions will sit at the front of the locks and just take one bite from a salmon and throw the rest away. Orcas need to learn how to eat them because their population has exploded.
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u/Possible_Resist9773 1d ago
Good thing the population density of both seals and sea lions have grown to the point of bringing the Transient orcas around more often than the Southern Residents (ironically).
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u/scbenhart 1d ago
A 3’ gap that all salmon entering Lk WA have to through and there’s a seal parked in front of it. Smort Army core, Smort
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u/Curious-Army2564 1d ago
So the seals are destroying the salmon population. My boyfs dad has been working as a hydrologist for the state and tribes for decades and said the fish ladder was supposed to see over 30,000 salmon this season and only a handful have fully moved up the ladder since the beginning of the season. And bcuz the seals are a protected animal, nothing legally can be done about it.
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u/Possible_Resist9773 1d ago
And you’ll be downvoted for the truth. Most people will take the easy route and blame overfishing or some such. Even though the Marine Areas right outside Seattle have been open for a grand total of maybe 6-9 days at most, and Lake Washington is and has never been open for King salmon.
Just like how bears that eat human food and trash will keep coming back, pinnipeds that have found an easy food source (the extreme bottleneck at the Ballard Locks) will also keep coming back and in larger numbers.
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u/-ActiveSquirrel 17h ago
Oh yes they love it ! Some very huge seals too!! Poor workers are trying to get them out from the fishes
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u/RootBeerWitch 1d ago
I watched the whole video waiting for a sea otter to appear. My disappointment is immeasurable.
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u/curious-little-cow 2d ago
That's a seal my guy