Sam Stinnett has been practicing his skills off Aliso and West Street beaches for more than two decades. In that time, the four-time world champion skimboarder has encountered lots of marine mammals, including sea lions.
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“They’d come up on the beaches and right up to me,” he said Friday, Sept. 27, sitting at Aliso Beach. “When I was out there they’d pop their heads up out of the water.”
An avid animal lover, Stinnett, 26, began following the Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s work rescuing and rehabilitating struggling marine mammals along 53 miles of Orange County coastline.
This weekend, Stinnett will hold the third annual Sea Dog Skim Challenge at Aliso Beach. The event — scheduled from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 28 and Sept. 29, is open to amateurs and professionals. It is expected to draw at least 100 entrants.
Stinnett witnessed the impact of PMMC’s work helping animals often sickened by the ocean they live in because of human impacts such as trash, pollutants and abandoned fishing gear.
“I’d feel really bad when I saw animals impacted by what we did to harm the environment,” he said. “It kind of clicked that they’re the real locals out here. It’s their home we’re sharing. They’re the dogs of the ocean.”
Following the contest on Sunday, there will be an awards program to honor competitors. The ceremony will includes an opportunity for the community to donate to PMMC through an optional entry fee to the event, which will be held at Laguna Beach Beer Company.
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The event will include raffle prizes such as a Vissla shopping spree, Catch Surf surfboards, Sector 9 Skateboards and gift cards to local restaurants. Elev8, a Laguna Beach surf apparel company that helps protect children from child abuse, is covering all the expenses for the event, which it has done since its inception.
Stinnett, a Laguna local who began skimming at West Street at age six, said he wants to raise at least $10,000 for the center. The event raised $5,000 in 2017 and $3,500 in 2016.
“It’s so inspiring seeing someone who has such a connection with our oceans and who grew up skimming in this community go full circle and give back to help protect our marine life whose environment we all share,” said Krysta Higuchi, spokeswoman for PMMC.
This year has been especially challenging for PMMC, with a high number of strandings including a mix of animals — sea lions, elephant seals and harbor seals. In total, there have been 181 rescues year-to-date, a nearly 40% increase from last year’s total of 131. At least 17 of the rescued animals had some sort of fishing gear entanglement. PMMC took in 41 animals in May, alone.
Experts point to warm water conditions, storm wastewater run-off, and entanglements as the cause of this year’s increased rescues.
PMMC also responded to calls for 17 dead or dying dolphins found along the beaches.
Rescues continued into September, including four sea lions and a beached pygmy sperm whale that washed up on the sand at Surfside. The whale was pushed back out to sea but then re-stranded. It was humanely euthanized by PMMC and a necropsy — an animal autopsy — was conducted.
The center is looking into viral and bacterial causes for the strandings. It is possible toxic algae blooms off Newport Beach may have affected the dolphins this year.
“It’s still like a giant puzzle,” Higuchi said. “One piece is the stuff we dump in our ocean is lowering the immune system of these animals causing them to be more susceptible to diseases, but that’s just a small piece.”
Earlier this week, a sea lion rescued and rehabilitated by PMMC — along with another sea lion rescued by the Marine Mammal Center Los Angeles — traveled by FedEx to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and are now residents of the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. Officials from the National Marine Fisheries Services deemed both animals unreleasable to the wild because of visual impairments.
Sabiena, 2, was found in May 2018 at Westward Beach in Malibu and rescued by MMCLA. She was found with puncture wounds and fishhooks in her body. One hook was in her eye, leading to permanent damage.
Carolyn (previously named Olive at PMMC) was found on the sand near Dana Point Harbor in November 2018. She had lacerations on a flipper and on her chest, possibly from a boat propeller or a bite from a shark or an adult sea lion. X-rays revealed she also had 30 to 40 stones in her stomach. Once the stones passed, she started eating and was released back to the wild in January 2019. But a month later she was found again at the harbor looking emaciated. At PMMC, an exam showed she had a cataract in her right eye.
Stinnett said a visit to the Waterman’s Ball a few years ago inspired him to help PMMC. The event, put on by the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, is a fundraiser enabling surf companies to contribute to ocean causes.
“It really opened my eyes seeing everyone come together,” Stinnett said. “It made me think of ‘What could I do?’ I thought about PMMC rehabilitating the animals I share the ocean with. The ocean gave me my whole life. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the ocean.”
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