Posted on 05/15/2011 3:12:09 PM PDT by smokingfrog
PORTLAND — Oregon and Washington have been given permission to resume removing or killing California sea lions at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, a federal agency said Friday.
The decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came about six months after a federal appeals court struck down a similar permit aimed at reducing the number of threatened or endangered salmon eaten by the hungry marine mammals.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped the practice last year.
NOAA Fisheries officials said they believe the agency has fixed flaws the court pointed out in the original permit issued three years ago.
*-snip-*
A report in Portland’s Oregonian says the California sea lion population is healthy, estimated at 238,000, while wild Columbia River spring chinook salmon are listed as endangered.
. . . Mammals’ impact small, challengers say . . .
But Sharon Young of the Humane Society of the United States, which challenged the removal, said Friday the organization still argues the sea lions account for only a small fraction of the salmon killed while fishermen and other causes account for a much larger share.
“This is not a program that is going to do much of anything to help salmon recovery,” Young said.
The HSUS said it would study NOAA’s authorization letter and 42-page decision memo before deciding whether to challenge the practice again.
In Friday’s decision, NOAA Regional Director William Stelle said new data suggest sea lions are eating nearly 13 percent of salmon at the dam in low-return years. That’s higher than earlier Corps of Engineers estimates. Stelle said a researcher last year found sea lion injuries on 29 percent of returning salmon.
Stelle also said the Marine Mammal Protection Act allows his agency to balance “the management of and conflict between two species.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bendbulletin.com ...
This is a policy decision which has no business being in the courts.
The barbarian bastards are clubbing our baby seals! Oh, wait. Never mind.
They also never want to mention that they usually just bite a choice, fatal chunk out of one as it goes by, then do the same to the next, and the next, and..., rather than catching ONE and eating the entire fish.
Why does the NOAA fall under the Agriculture Dept?
Why is this their business?
Tom Vilsack is out of control.
About time, they kill thousands of fish andn only eat the eggs. They have been decimating the sturgeon populations.
Pray for America
About time, they kill thousands of fish andn only eat the eggs. They have been decimating the sturgeon populations.
Pray for America
a sea lion in the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam.
Obviously there is an injustice here,
Sea lions should have their own ladder
or even an escalator, why should they
have to use the ladder designed for fish.../s.
I guess they’re too damn smart for their own good.
Seems kind of surprising that sea lions are 146 miles inland.
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Ummmm,
Blackened Sea Lion
Bar b qued Sea Lion
Smoked Sea Lion
Poached Sea Lion
Gots to taste like pork,
not Chicken
So what does Sea Lion taste like?
With proper marination, it will!
Seems kind of surprising that sea lions are 146 miles inland.>>>>>>>
They love this all you can eat buffet that we built for them. Get rid of them any way we have to. They are pests and are not endangered. They are decimating salmon, a food source
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