Cyberfair '02
Carpinteria, California, USA

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Seal Rookery

Interview with Christy Boyd

By Julia McAdams, Grayson Arango, Caitlyn Whittaker, Jessica Perez, and Emma Moorhouse

The Seal Rookery is located on Carpinteria's magnificent Bluffs and it is east of the Venoco pier.

The Seal Watch is a group of people who want to protect the harbor seals. They are volunteers who spend time offering information to visitors making sure that people are quiet and respectful of the seal's habitat. Harbor seals are mostly the only seals you will see at the rookery, excerpt every once in a while you will see a Sea Lion or Sea Elephant drift by.

Harbor seals are the only seals you will see give birth at the rookery. The birthing months are February through May but the beach is closed by December first. The mother seal gives birth in a little lagoon where there is moss and rocks to protect the babies from strong tides, but there is some shallow water where the babies can swim and be protected.

Sometimes pups are born in January, but those pups don't usually make it. Each seal mother has one seal pup. It is very unusual for a seal mother to have twins.

Carpinteria feels very lucky to have a Seal Rookery because we are able to see things that some people might never see.

It is very important to be very respectful of the seals if you are visiting on the visitors path. Barking dogs are especially dangerous because they scare the mother seals into the water and they sometimes abandon their seal pups out of fear. Many Carpinterians volunteer their time to do the Seal Watch.