To protect salmon in the Columbia, will we have to kill more sea lions?

The Sacramento Bee ^ | July 06, 2018 | Ryan Sabalow

[Tilting]

The dam straddles Oregon and Washington, and the sea lions' voracious eating there affects fish populations in both states, as well as in Idaho and elsewhere.

Biologists have tried transporting the sea lions to other locations, but they just keep coming back. Other strategies, such as constructing barriers, shooting the animals with rubber buckshot and scaring them with firecrackers, have had little effect.

States currently are allowed to lethally remove 93 animals each year, but fisheries managers, tribal officials and others argue that's not enough.

Now, a bill that would give states the latitude to kill several hundred more sea lions each year along the Columbia has moved closer than ever to becoming law.

In late June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 2083, which would amend the 46-year-old Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow for state fisheries managers and tribal officials to kill as many as 930 sea lions a year on the Columbia and its tributaries to protect beleaguered fish populations.

The bill has bipartisan support in the Pacific Northwest, where commercial and recreational fishing pumps billions of dollars each year into regional economies, and fish numbers have been on a dramatic decline.

[Tilting]

Yes, the article is months old. I don't quite understand this. Sea lions are on the increase after nearing extinction numbers. Salmon are on the decline after record numbers about 5 years ago. Natives and sports fishermen along with the salmon industry are calling to thin the seal herds to save the salmon. Congress recently passed a law allowing shooting a higher number of seals and then locals can't understand why seals are being shot and the shootings are being investigated. Did not Congress tell the locals that it is okay now to shoot seals to save the salmon?

[ClearCase_guy]

Is sea lion tasty?

[Ikeon]

What do sea lions taste like?.... You beat me by this *. .* much..Im thinking fish. its most of their diet.

[BlueLancer]

Is sea lion tasty?

Maybe we can start to organize the sea monkeys so that they will go on sea lion big-game hunts...

[hanamizu]

Worked on an albacore boat out of San Pedro, Cal one summer many years ago. Boss absolutely loathed sea lions. He saw them as thieves of HIS fish.

[knarf]

I can’t find a thing regarding what they are good for.

[Rebelbase]

Just bring in more Great White Sharks.

[Sacajaweau]

My bro and I thought of buying them...but then we thought of all the goldfish we managed to "croak".

We got the goldfish for free at the fair doing ring toss.

[gundog]

I’ve seen pictures of a coat. Also saw a picture of an indigenous kid with a head-shot one. I’ve read that the local indigenous people used to make robes from them...and smelled like it.

[gundog]

They’re brine shrimp. Good goldfish food.

[gundog]

And there are 2 species of sea lions, here. Steller’s and the surplus male population of the California Sea Lion. The latter are far more numerous, but I hear that the Stellers are a bigger problem at the dams.

[shotgun]

The MMPA doesn’t even allow you to harass them , which is why the pile up on the docks on the California coast. This has gotten so far out of control that you can practically walk across their backs at the mouth of the Columbia. Of course the enviro-whackos want to breach the dams as the solution to increase fish populations, which would probably have a some effect on the fish population, but would absolutely devastate the PNW economy.

There was a big stink about one sea lion that had been tagged, trapped, and relocated several times (think illegal alien) and would return to the same spot the next year. They finally got permission to shoot it and that caused an uproar.

[gogeo]

Herschel!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The really bad thing is that sea lions act just like any other animal with an abundance of food, they only eat the tasty parts.

So they catch a fish, take a bite out of the belly and leave the fish to die while they are on to the next fish.

There is a huge amount of waste and water pollution in this method of consumption.

The sea lion population should be reduced to manageable levels by either culling them or importing orcas who will do the job with little fuss but a great deal of mess.

[Gamecock]

Fish problems everywhere:

Chinatown koi evacuation begins as otter rampage claims 10th fatality

[shotgun]

That would be him. Too bad he didn’t ask for asylum...

[Lion Den Dan]

I can’t find a thing regarding what they are good for.........

Eskimos eat the meat and cherish the blubber. In harsh conditions, I don’t think the taste of food has much to do with the usefulness thereof. As stated, the hide makes good clothing.

[knarf]

I think the answer is "a market" .... Is there a market for anything from a sea lion?

Americans are probably the best ones to market TO, and I don't see a product except maybe some kind of winter boots.

[WASCWatch]

Import Orcas. They love sea lions.

Seriously, kill them all it’s not their natural habitat.

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

“Is sea lion tasty?”

I don’t know, but the hides are great.

5.56mm