After an especially strong breeding season, the sea lions are not only booming, they are crowd into commercial fishing harbor, and spark a turf war at public beach. "One bump against me three times, then he went and nipped my little toe," San Francisco swimmer Sarah McCusky told FOX News.

But it's no amused matter for Bay Area fishermen who protest the thousand-pound mammals are damage docks and overcrowding their boats."They take over berths and make it hard for fishermen to get to their boats, and really make it tough for people to do their jobs," Peter Dailey, Deputy Director of the Port of San Francisco, told FOX News.


The Port of San Francisco policy to make the docks sea lion-proof, installing 200-feet of mesh rubber barricade. And if that doesn't work, there are additional options.

"There are humane ways you can make their lives unhappy. You can be like a noisy neighbor, you can turn on loud music, you can have lights flashing on them, you can hose them down," Dailey told FOX News.

The birds are protected under federal law and as Sarah McCusky points out, they were there first. But she and other swimmers don't feel entirely safe in the water with half-ton carnivores.


"I think it's made us all a little bit more anxious about exactly where we will swim to," McCusky said.One cause for hope? Crab season starts soon, and scientists say that the arrival of more boats, noise, and dockside activity may pursuade these sea lions to leave on their own.