Hungry sea lions ruin town's annual holiday herring sale

NANAIMO, British Columbia -- It wasn't the Grinch that ruined the annual Christmas herring sale, it was the sea lions.

Herring were in abundance but couldn't be brought into the boats because of the danger from hundreds of voracious sea lions, said Bob Carpenter, 63, a member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union.

The sale is used to raise money for charities in the Vancouver Island town.

"We had about 100 sea lions in the net as we tried to set the seiner nets," he said. "We've never seen that before. They were jumping into the net, biting and fighting with each other."

Steller sea lions can weigh as much as 2,200 pounds.

"You get a hundred of those in your net and it's not safe to try to bring your net up," Carpenter said.