All marine mammals are protected in the United States by the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which has improved the status of many marine mammals. Sometimes, however, we succeed too well in increasing the populations of a species. Case in point: Sea lions now number more than 190,000 and have become so abundant as to be local problems.
In San Francisco Harbor and in Santa Barbara Harbor, for example, sea lions haul out and sun themselves on boats and pollute the water with their excrement near shore. In one case, so many hauled out on a sailboat in Santa Barbara Harbor that they sank the boat, and some of the animals were trapped and drowned. Human beings are a primary cause of species extinctions today and also contributed to extinctions in the past.
Nonindustrial societies have caused extinction by such activities as hunting and the introduction of exotic species into new habitats. With the age of exploration in the Renaissance and with the Industrial Revolution, the rate of extinctions accelerated. People altered habitats more rapidly and over greater areas. Hunting efficiency increased, as did the introduction of exotic species into new habitats. As the human population grows, conflicts over habitat between people and wildlife increase.