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?”
MMPA1972 
holtman 
Sandy Mc 
hdhndsft 
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 www.bluefish.org mission is to facilitate an open and honest dialogue concerning the plight of Idaho’s wild Salmon and Steelhead.