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 ...
Bottom line: sea lions smell and do not care about private property or the fact that salmon need to spawn.
They can swim.
Some guys I know caught a sea lion ages ago in Mexico and threw it in one of the guys Dads mans truck bed as a joke.
It crapped all over. They never could get that chipped out
That's where the fish are.
WA ping...
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
Quick link: WA State Board
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.
Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.
After burying it on the beach for 9 months, it is almost indistinguishable from prime, rotted walrus!
I'm told it is an acquired tatse.
“Oh, the hugh manatee!”
Uh, I mean, “Oh, the hugh sea lion!”
That's why I've actually started liking great white sharks.
Every one of God’s creatures constitutes a link in the food chain.
Ummm... more for us and the bears.
Did you know previously that sea lions can live in fresh water?
Honestly? No. I was just joking around.
I knew they would hang out in brackish water but didn't know they would spend that much time in fresh water.
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