Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Published April 15, 2007
Les Blumenthal
WASHINGTON — For three years, the California sea lions dining on endangered salmon below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River have been blasted with rubber buckshot, chased by boats, harassed by firecrackers and rockets and subjected to irritating acoustic frequencies blaring from underwater speakers.
It’s known as “non-lethal hazing,” and it hasn’t worked. In increasing numbers, the sea lions continue to feast on salmon runs that are struggling to survive.
But now the sea lions could face a death sentence.
Washington, Oregon and Idaho together have asked for permission to kill more than 80 sea lions a year. Legislation to expedite the request was introduced in late March in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In the battle between 400-pound bull sea lions and the thousands of salmon heading upstream to spawn, both sides have picked up important allies. Backers of the salmon include the three Northwest states, the region’s Indian tribes and four of the region’s members of Congress. Backing the sea lions: the 10 million-member Humane Society of the United States.
The confrontation involves two of the nation’s pre-eminent environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
“It’s a frustrating dilemma,” said Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., who supports eliminating some of the sea lions. “I am not happy about it, but the trend lines show salmon runs decreasing and sea lion populations growing.”
State wildlife officials agree.
“As resource managers, we face choices that sometimes aren’t desirable,” said Guy Norman, the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s regional director in Vancouver. “But we have to make these decisions.”
Prior to the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, California sea lions were rarely sighted in the 140-mile stretch of river between the Pacific Ocean and Bonneville Dam, the first of the 19 huge hydroelectric dams on the mainstream of the Columbia and its largest tributary, the Snake River.
The numbers of California sea lions had dwindled to fewer than 10,000 before Congress acted. Until 1972, Washington and Oregon paid bounties for sea lions killed in the Columbia, and a state-sanctioned hunter was employed.
Now, an estimated 300,000 California sea lions inhabit the Pacific, breeding on the islands off Southern California and chasing the food supply as far north as Puget Sound.
At the same time that the California sea lion population was expanding, salmon populations were in sharp decline. The fish runs were decimated by the dams, habitat destruction and other factors, rather than such predatory pinnipeds as sea lions.
Critics say the sea lion issue is little more than a smokescreen to hide the fact that little has been done to restore the runs.
“It’s distracting attention from the real issues,” said Sharon Young, the Humane Society’s field director for marine issues. “If you kill sea lions, it looks like you are doing something meaningful, but it is meaningless.”
Les Blumenthal
WASHINGTON — For three years, the California sea lions dining on endangered salmon below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River have been blasted with rubber buckshot, chased by boats, harassed by firecrackers and rockets and subjected to irritating acoustic frequencies blaring from underwater speakers.
It’s known as “non-lethal hazing,” and it hasn’t worked. In increasing numbers, the sea lions continue to feast on salmon runs that are struggling to survive.
But now the sea lions could face a death sentence.
Washington, Oregon and Idaho together have asked for permission to kill more than 80 sea lions a year. Legislation to expedite the request was introduced in late March in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In the battle between 400-pound bull sea lions and the thousands of salmon heading upstream to spawn, both sides have picked up important allies. Backers of the salmon include the three Northwest states, the region’s Indian tribes and four of the region’s members of Congress. Backing the sea lions: the 10 million-member Humane Society of the United States.
The confrontation involves two of the nation’s pre-eminent environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
“It’s a frustrating dilemma,” said Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., who supports eliminating some of the sea lions. “I am not happy about it, but the trend lines show salmon runs decreasing and sea lion populations growing.”
State wildlife officials agree.
“As resource managers, we face choices that sometimes aren’t desirable,” said Guy Norman, the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s regional director in Vancouver. “But we have to make these decisions.”
Prior to the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, California sea lions were rarely sighted in the 140-mile stretch of river between the Pacific Ocean and Bonneville Dam, the first of the 19 huge hydroelectric dams on the mainstream of the Columbia and its largest tributary, the Snake River.
The numbers of California sea lions had dwindled to fewer than 10,000 before Congress acted. Until 1972, Washington and Oregon paid bounties for sea lions killed in the Columbia, and a state-sanctioned hunter was employed.
Now, an estimated 300,000 California sea lions inhabit the Pacific, breeding on the islands off Southern California and chasing the food supply as far north as Puget Sound.
At the same time that the California sea lion population was expanding, salmon populations were in sharp decline. The fish runs were decimated by the dams, habitat destruction and other factors, rather than such predatory pinnipeds as sea lions.
Critics say the sea lion issue is little more than a smokescreen to hide the fact that little has been done to restore the runs.
“It’s distracting attention from the real issues,” said Sharon Young, the Humane Society’s field director for marine issues. “If you kill sea lions, it looks like you are doing something meaningful, but it is meaningless.”
