Three sea lions have paid the ultimate price for feasting on salmon on the Columbia River.
Three unlucky sea lions have been chemically euthanized by Washington state officials after being caught feasting on salmon at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.
During migration season in April and May, throngs of salmon and steelhead wait patiently beneath the Bonneville Dam to climb fish ladders to get upriver. Sea lions have figured this out, and packs of them feast on the helpless fish before they can fulfill their instinct to spawn upriver.
Two of the pinnipeds were caught and killed last week at the dam, and a third was captured and euthanized on Monday. Since 2008, 28 sea lions have been killed in the name of preserving the salmon population. Another 10 were captured and shipped off to zoos.
Federal authorization allows sea lions to be targeted for death only under certain specific conditions: The sea lions must be “individually identifiable,” have been seen eating salmon on five separate days, and have not responded to non-lethal hazing like fireworks and explosives.
The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that approximately 100 sea lions gobble up about 3,000 chinook salmon and steelhead each year at the Bonneville Dam. The Bonneville Dam is about 140 miles inland from the mouth of the Columbia River.
Last month, the Humane Society of the United States filed suit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to change the policy toward killing sea lions. The society argues the government has never proven the sea lions kill a significant number of salmon.
Sharon Young, Humane Society marine issues field director, told California Watch:
“There is just no justification for killing the sea lions. It’s just a red herring. It looks like something easy to solve, but they should really be addressing the bigger issues, like non-native fish.”
In response to the suit, a judge ruled that only 30 sea lions may be killed this year, instead of the 92 previously approved for 2012.
California officials were “perplexed” by the killings, especially in a year where record salmon numbers are expected. California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Andrew Hughan told California Watch:
“We know salmon is a huge part of the Oregon economy, but is eliminating a couple of sea lions really going to make a difference?”
Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.
Hiding from the truth is the primary ‘H’ that I think of when I hear discussion of the four H’s. Idaho’s Sockeye Salmon were listed as endangered species in 1991. More than two decades have passed and the federal “Action Agencies” have yet to put forward a recovery plan. Instead they continue to hide behind their four H’s: Habitat, Hatcheries, Harvest and Hydro.
Idaho has plenty of habitat. Redfish Lake regularly supported upwards of 20,000 adult Sockeye spawning along its shores. Last year’s spawn saw only 150 natural origin Sockeye. They were joined by a few hundred hatchery reared spawners — the Hatchery component is helpful, not harmful, for Idaho’s Sockeye.
In hopes of improving the number of lake spawners, substantial efforts are being placed to develop a hatchery near American Falls Reservoir in southeastern Idaho. Planning for 1 million juveniles per year, the hatchery fish will be dumped alongside their natural origin kin during their schooling pulse to the ocean in the early spring. The river’s predator fish are “swamped” by the large school of fish. They can only eat so much and the hatchery fish make up a large part of their diet.
Harvest of Idaho’s Sockeye is believed to be non-existent. There are no commercial or sport fishing harvests of Sockeye in the Columbia River downstream of the confluence with the Snake. Ocean harvest of a wild Idaho Sockeye is rare if ever occurrence because there are none.
Well there goes three of the four H’s. Habitat is waiting for fish. Hatchery fish swamp predator fish. Harvest is non-existent. This leaves Hydro, which the Western Division American Fisheries Society points squarely as The Problem. Let’s recognize the expertise of the region’s fish biologist. The four Lower Snake River dams need to go if we are to recover Idaho’s Sockeye (see http://www.bluefish.org/wdafs0611.pdf).
It’s been twenty years since the Sockeye listing, why haven’t we seen a recovery plan yet? Hiding?
The http://www.bluefish.org mission is to facilitate an open and honest dialogue concerning the plight of Idaho’s wild Salmon and Steelhead.
Please note: Sea lions who eat salmon at Bonneville dam are not “gorging themselves,” they are eating. Indeed, they are eating their native, co-evolved, prey. Salmon and sea lions co-existed on the Columbia river for tens of thousands of years, to the benefit of BOTH species. The dam presents great obstacles to the survival of the salmon: It has changed native habitat from fast, shallow, cold, clean water to large, warm, dirty water; it cut off thousands upon thousands of miles of former salmon habitat; it diverts water out of the river and off to water the DESERT; and the turbines chew up hundreds of thousands of baby salmon out of every run, every year. All of that is true. Dams are very bad for native salmon. BUT…
The fact that fish pool below the dam before going up river, and the fact that sea lions have “found” them there, is NOT one of the problems with the dam. In fact, long before there was ever a dam on the Columbia, there was Celilo falls. It was a huge wall of rock and churning waters, with an area below in which the salmon would pool to rest before attempting to navigate the falls. And lo and behold, the seals and the sea lions gathered there as well to hunt for them. Not just sea lions, either. Bears, wild cats, birds of prey, and for much of that period, Native humans. In fact, sea lions are NATIVE to this area, and have ALWAYS been on the river. People are only surprised by that now because these animals were hunted to the brink of extinction before the Marine Mammal Protection Act stopped the killing in 1972. They are only now beginning to return to their native habitat. They BELONG here.
But here are a few things that don’t belong here: Dams; Gill nets; Fishing fleets; Hog lines; River-stocking with non-native SPORT fish who kill off the salmon… I could go on and on. This is the problem. The fisheries are not collapsing because of natural predators. And all the government biologists know this as well. However, the reasons they are collapsing are very difficult to address politically for people who care more about re-election than science. There is a lot of money in the fishing industry in the NW, and even though it is going to end one way or another unless the REAL causes of salmon decline are addressed, they are fighting any reduction in fishing. In fact, the day after a sea lion was killed for the “crime” of eating his native food, the States extended the fishing season.
Please, journalists, take the time to learn some facts before mindlessly parroting what all the other lazy journalists are getting right out of the mouths of WDFW and ODFW spin doctors. The truth is, this program makes no sense, and accusing animals who dare to eat of “gobbling” and “gorging” themselves is unprofessional editorializing. If you want to talk “gorging” and gluttony, come up here and take a look at all the gill nets on this river. Come and take a look at all the fishermen with their lines in the river RIGHT NEXT TO THE TRAPS. Or how about you search google images for “Spring Chinook Catch,” like I just did. You get plenty of photographs of who is really “gorging themselves” on NW salmon. Here: https://www.google.com/search?q=spring+chinook+catch&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Tw6HT6aMDYegiAKTo4EE&biw=1152&bih=734&sei=UA6HT7aGPIeyiQLekPGrDw.
By the way, monitors from the Sea Lion Defense Brigade just reported that they observed animals being trapped this morning up there. So you can probably update the death toll soon. How many more need die for ignorance and greed?
I highly recommend that anyone looking for the FACTS about this situation to read through the links provided on this petition, this article on SFbay is ridiculous for reasons not to mention it is missing a lot of key information. I am going to keep this comment simple and say, if you want to know the truth, look at the info provided on this link: http://www.change.org/petitions/director-office-of-protected-resources-noaa-don-t-kill-the-bonneville-sea-lions
Completely agree with the Humane Society and the California officials on this. Sea lions are being scapegoated for catching fish all the while anglers are being encouraged out onto the river. Please sign the petition at: http://www.change.org/petitions/director-office-of-protected-resources-noaa-don-t-kill-the-bonneville-sea-lions and be sure to join in the International Telephone Protest on April 13: https://www.facebook.com/events/213696138736798/
I live in the Portland metro area and am very embarrassed and shocked by the senseless killing of this beautiful animal. Man is the main reason for the depletion of salmon and other types of fish.
I hope we can raise our voices to stop this killing and realize it is the dam itself and over fishing that is the reason for the low number of salmon.