A Scarred Steller Took Pier 39’s Dock, and the Harbormaster Says the Marks Prove It Is Not Chonkers
Le quai 39 a passé le printemps de 2026 à enseigner un nom aux touristes. L'automne leur enseigne que le nom était une espèce. Le mercredi 23 septembre, un lion de mer de Steller d'environ 10 pieds de long sortit sur les quais flottants du quai de Fisherman, aboya sur un tapis de lions de mer de Californie, et partit la même question que le front de mer a échoué toute l'année: est-ce que c'est Chonkers? Harbormaster Sheila Chandor et l'Académie des sciences de Californie disent non. Le nouvel animal est plus petit. Les cicatrices ne correspondent pas. Sue Pemberton, qui travaille le programme d'échouement marin-mammal de l'académie et qui est sur la jetée depuis 41 ans, a dit à KRON4 que c'est la première fois qu'elle a vu ce nombre de Steller visites au quai 39. La nourriture qu'elle et Chandor ont tous deux pointée n'était pas une célébrité mystérieuse. C'était des sardines dans la marina.
Chonkers is still the animal people came for. He is a Steller, a different species from the California sea lions that have owned K-Dock since the Loma Prieta earthquake emptied the slips in 1989. Adult male Stellers can run about 11 feet and up toward 2,500 pounds. A large California male at the pier is closer to 700 or 800 pounds, and the biggest of that species on record is about 1,000. Chandor has said Chonkers usually passes through about every two years and stays a few days. Staff nicknamed the routine « Morning Glory, » because he tended to show between 7 and 9 a.m., then roll off to fish. The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito started a log on March 13, 2026, the day he arrived with a juvenile Steller that left after a few days. Pier 39’s own video from that morning went wide. A San Francisco Reddit thread supplied the name, a play on « chonky. » The Wall Street Journal later described a crowd of more than a hundred people watching him on a single April afternoon. Estimates put him near 2,000 pounds. « He’s literally twice the size of the biggest California sea lion that you can see out there, » Chandor told ABC7 during the stay. When he dropped onto the wood, witnesses compared the sound to an oak coming down.
He Left in May. The Impostors Started in September.
Le long séjour a duré environ six semaines, au début de mai. Le centre a dit aux journalistes qu'il n'avait pas été vu au quai depuis le 1er mai. Le 4 mai, un grand animal a dessiné des caméras et n'était pas lui. Sue Muzzin, vice-président des relations publiques de Pier 39, a regardé les cadres et l'a dit. Adam Ratner, directeur de l'engagement de conservation au Marine Mammal Center, est allé plus loin: ce stand-in particulier n'était pas un Steller du tout. C'était un très grand lion de mer adulte de Californie portant l'éclairage d'une célébrité. Le maire avait été relevé. Des panneaux à la jetée annonçaient encore un invité qui avait déjà sauté, peut - être vers la nourriture, peut - être vers un compagnon. Les Stellers de l'Est sont plus souvent dénombrés en Alaska et en Colombie-Britannique. San Francisco est un voyage parallèle, pas une adresse.
On Thursday, September 3, another enormous Steller took a dock for a day. Staff looked hard, decided he was not Chonkers, and informally named him the Beefy Buddy. Muzzin said they had « definitely » seen him that Thursday and had not seen him Friday. « Not that this guy is small, » she said. Chandor has described 2026 as the year with more Steller traffic than any she can remember, and she has been the harbormaster through a lot of anchovy seasons. One theory floated by spotters is that the juvenile who arrived with Chonkers in March could be one of the autumn returnees. Nobody has a tag that proves it. Stellers are not microchipped tourists. They are scars, size, and a lighter coat, and then they are gone.
The September 23 animal reopened the argument in public. ABC7 and KRON4 filmed a 10-foot Steller flexing among the California herd. Academy scientists and the harbormaster again used scarring to rule Chonkers out. Pemberton’s line is the one that changes the story from a mascot to a food report: « I’ve been here on the pier working here for 41 years. This is the first time we’ve had this number of visitations from Steller sea lions on Pier 39. » Chandor tied the visits to bait in the marina. « We have a lot of sardines in the marina right now, swimming around. So there’s some good food source here. But this is unusual for us. » The Farallon Islands, about 30 miles west of the Golden Gate, are a real Steller haul-out. A sardine school inside the breakwater is a reason to take the extra miles into a tourist harbor. It is the same reason Chandor read Chonkers’ long spring stay as a health certificate for the bay. « The fact that he’s staying this long means that there’s a lot of food source close by. It’s a good sign. It means the bay is healthy. »
The Dock Was Already a Record Before Any of Them Had a Nickname
K-Dock was built for a few hundred California sea lions and a lot of phones. In the spring of 2024 it held a census instead. Chandor counted about 1,000 animals in late April, the most in roughly 15 years. By May 30, World Sea Lion Day, the pier’s own tally had passed 2,000. The peak, in May and June, was more than 2,100. The previous all-time mark was 1,701, set in November 2009, right before that colony vanished around Thanksgiving and left the barges looking empty. Tourist Les Oakes told KPIX he had « never seen this many sea lions in one place before, » and compared the pile to « a bunch of kids vying for a big spot on the couch. »
The 2024 cause was anchovies moving in from the Farallones, not a branding campaign. California sea lions eat them the way people eat fries. Ratner called it « that dinner bell that’s ringing and all the sea lions are coming in enjoying that feast. » They were putting on weight before the run south toward Channel Islands breeding grounds. Chandor, watching the barges sag, said it looked « like a National Geographic photograph right now. » The September sardines are a second bell, rung for a heavier species. Anchovies filled the dock with the locals. Sardines are what make a 2,000-pound visitor from colder water decide a San Francisco marina is worth the swim.
An Empty Slip, an Earthquake, and a Law That Kept the Wood
The colony is an accident with a date. In 1989, boats were pulled from their slips for a remodel. Then the Loma Prieta earthquake hit in October. Sea lions moved onto the empty wood. Business on the waterfront was dead. The animals were not. « They just started to multiply, and they really and truly saved us, » Chandor has said. « We were dead. No one was coming to the city. » The bay still offers fish and a partial break from white sharks and orcas. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 makes it illegal to harass them. The Marine Mammal Center’s practical rule is 50 feet. A record count and a parade of Stellers are what a recovered population looks like when the bait fish cooperate. They are not a permit to climb the dock for a selfie. A 2,000-pound animal that sounds like a falling tree when he lies down is also a crushing hazard, which is why the pier’s barges were engineered for weight in the first place.
Le quai 39 est toujours une webcam de lion de mer toute l'année. Le matin et la fin de l'après-midi sont les heures honnêtes, la même fenêtre Chonkers préféré. Le chiffre de 2 100 à partir de 2024 est toujours le nombre sur le pier’s own page. La webcam ne réglera pas la comparaison des cicatrices. Cela prend un capitaine de port qui a regardé le même quai depuis le tremblement de terre et un biologiste échoué qui a passé quatre décennies à apprendre quel animal est qui. Jusqu'à ce que les marques de Chonkers se reproduisent, le trône est une rotation : Beefy Buddy pour une journée, un taureau de 10 pieds marqué le 23 septembre et quelques centaines d'otaries californiennes qui ne sont jamais parties. Le nom viral était un seul homme. La biologie est un réseau alimentaire qui continue d'encaisser le même chèque.
For how marine mammals fare when the story is a carcass instead of a crowd, see The AEGIS Alliance report on a dead dolphin on a Louisiana beach and the older file on a country that banned killer-whale and dolphin breeding. A different kind of water hazard showed up in Florida, where a woman had to kayak a gator-infested shortcut. More of this beat is in Environnement et US News.
