Posted on 04/08/2006 8:47:54 PM PDT by george76
Despite bombs, boats and rubber bullets, dozens of sea lions are continuing to kill salmon near the Bonneville Dam.
This month, biologists are trying one last time to scare off the problem sea lions, but if that doesn't work, they may try to kill them.
Sea lions could kill as much as 10 percent of this spring's salmon run and biologists say if they cannot get the problem solved soon, the situation could get ugly.
The problem is that the salmon are disappearing. An estimated 8,000 salmon will be lost this spring at Bonneville Dam.
"The difficult part about it is we're trying to save the endangered salmon as they are going up past the dam, but you've got the Marine Mammal Protection Act that protects these marine mammals," says Bob Stansell, a Biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers.
The biggest violator is sea lion C-404. He has managed to penetrate the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam.
Biologists say there are nearly 1,000 other sea lions hunting salmon in the Columbia River ...
(Excerpt) Read more at katu.com ...
Why not hire some Eskimos and Indians to hunt these sea lions. They get a pass from the Marine Mammal act.
That's exactly right. They're screaming about the closures right now but it's not like it's happened all of a sudden. There's been a decline of salmon for quite a while.
LOVE your tagline! Wonder what Hildebeast thought they were before her revelation? Subhumans? Semi-humans? OR JUST ANOTHER RACE THAT HER HIGHNESS CONSIDERS SUBHUMAN? And, which race might that be, Hilde?
Sea lion video. Of the pests who eat the salmon--->>
http://www.komotv.com/news/story_m.asp?ID=42717
It's not like the other 90% won't lay a whole lot of eggs and the sea lions do have to eat,.... guess now that abalone is pretty much gone they have developed a taste for salmon.
Obviously he is. The damned sea lions here have been a problem for years. It started out slow with just a very few, but grew as a problem. I've seen a couple of them at the mouth of the Clackamas River just below Oregon City before. I say, Shoot 'em and be done with it. (Shooting coyotes was one of my favorite treats years ago) Had a bumper sticker that read ... " Eat American Lamb - - - 1,000,000 Coyotes Can't be Wrong."
Nam Vet
But he said the sea lions are showing up earlier and in greater numbers, and they are staying later. Now they have begun crawling onto the rocks to rest.
"They're becoming comfortable here," he said.
The run peaks in about September, but the sea lions head back to southern California breeding grounds around late May when the water temperature in the river rises.
They'll be back next year with their friends, and maybe their friends' friends too.
The animals have always been in the river. But now that the fish mass at the base of the dam, they provide a quick and easy meal for the sea lions.
C404 and his kind aren't endangered, but they are protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act and can't be killed.
Incorrigibles can be singled out for "lethal removal," a long, complicated process, Stansell said.
He said that nearly happened at the Ballard Locks in Seattle, where sea lions that nearly wiped out a winter steelhead run in the 1990s were marked for death.
But the Humane Society sued and then-President Clinton urged clemency. The worst of the miscreants were packed off to Sea World in Orlando, Fla.
Then-Vice President Al Gore called Sea World to say thanks.
Another nice find.
Good work.
"i'm no green freak but i think a sea lion is more important than a fish. when determining which one to kill intelligence should be a factor"
Based on this comment, you better watch out. [8^,
Excellent idea.
"Eskimos and Indians to hunt these sea lions. They get a pass from the Marine Mammal act."
Shoot the bastard.
What kind of seasoning do you apply to intelligence to make it taste good?????
You're welcome. I like stories like this. Sea Lions are plentiful. They're nor endangered. And the powers that be are stupid as sh!t and paralyzed. Unable to bump off a few sea lions to preserve some delicious salmon. It's insane and comparable to the invasion by illegal aliens.
You begin the think lots of gubbermint drones like it this way. They get to keep their jobs and look busy and "concerned" about the sea lions eating so much salmon
Get a clue because this problem is getting worse each year. Are you OK with sea lions eating 80% of the salmon? That's how it'll be in five years
Please excuse me for not being a college educated and accredited scientist, but if the gestatation period is "about 12 months" and these critters mate in May/June, Why aren't the pups born in May/June instead of July, or August or whenever? The school that I went to taught me that from May to July next year is 14 months, NOT about 12. Please take it easy on me, since I have only earned about 2 years college credit. (Does that equal 4 years worth?)
And all too often they fill that big stomach by using those big teeth to take one big bite out of each of a dozen or so salmon, rather than eat one entire fish.
It is easier to chomp another one swimming by, than it is to try to get an entire fish out of the current, and eat all of it.
The DUmmies use that new math taught by the geography teacher who told his high school students that the earth was flat.
Would the sea lions make better dog food or fish bait ?
it might take a while to respond to all the comments there are a few, one guy's got chickens so he's a sea lion expert i guess...
good idea
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.