A sea of sea lions at San Francisco's Pier 39 has gotten even larger, and there is now an all-time record of more than 2,000 sea lions at the pier, smashing a 30-year-old record.

Today, May 30, just happens to be World Sea Lion Day, which is an actual thing. And the Fisherman’s Wharf attraction Pier 39, the preferred sunning place for the San Francisco sea lion population, has a stunning and historic announcement for the occasion.

“PIER 39 has hit a record number of 2,000 sea lions and counting this week!” the pier announced Thursday afternoon.


The New York Times has jumped on the announcement with a description of how Pier 39 is crawling with an all-time record number of sea lions. Per the Times, the previous all-time record of sea lions at the pier is 1,400, a record they say was set “in the early 1990s.”


“They’re not buying the doom loop!” Pier 39 harbor master Sheila Chandor told the Times. “We have been truly overrun.”

We should note that Sausalito’s Marine Mammal Center keeps their own independent count, and their numbers say the previous record is much higher (1,700 of them in 2009). Either way, the current number of sea lions at Pier 39 unequivocally smashes the all-time record.


We noted in late April that the Pier 39 sea lion population was at a seven-year high at that point, fueled by very large schools of anchovies near the Farallon Islands. It’s unclear if those volumes of anchovies are still prevalent, and if that’s why the sea lions are still lingering. But for fans of marine biology and sea critters, this is an encouraging antidote to the recent news that stillborn and dead infant sea lions have been turning up on California coasts.


So, is there enough room on the piers for all of these sea lions? A trip to Pier 39 these days shows them actually laying on top of each other in layers, sometimes pushing each other off the decks to make room for themselves, or seeking sun on other nearby piers.

And remember, you can always watch these 2,000 sea lions from the comfort of your own home (and avoid the smell!) on the Pier 39 sea lion live webcam.

Related: Sea Lion Pup Wanders Divisadero [SFist]

Image: Seals and Sea lions slumbering in the sunshine at San Francisco's Pier 39. Horizontal. (Getty Images)