States seek permission to kill salmon-gobbling sea lions

[babylonsister]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17080404.htm

States seek permission to kill salmon-gobbling sea lions
By Les Blumenthal
McClatchy Newspapers



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 state, 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 standoff no one really wanted.

more...

[sam sarrha]

1. the sea lions predators have been removed and the fish have been over fished, they need to be culled

i lived on Puget sound, when the seals were eating all the Salmon the entire Sound stunk of seal shit.. there isn't the fish there used to be, and many more seals..

[bahrbearian]

2. Don't forget the gill nets,

The sea lions seems to be able too out manever those ,why can't the salmon?

[sam sarrha]

11. they just tear them up and get away

[Buzz Clik]

3. These balances have a tendency to correct themselves.

[pscot]

7. Good point

When the salmon are gone, the sea lions will die off.

[Buzz Clik]

8. The salmon don't have to be gone, just at a lower population.

As the sea lions depress the salmon numbers, the sea lion populations will diminish until they are low enough to live on the available salmon ... and other goodies.

[KT2000]

4. The sea lions

have been blamed for the decrease in salmon, at least that is the inference in Seattle news.
Of course we can go back to the plentiful salmon of the past if only the sea lions are killed off.

People love to talk about the plentiful salmon of the old days - as if they are now residing somewhere else.
No - they are gone from over fishing, pollution and dried up waterways.

Is anyone willing to give up their lawn fertilizer and herbicides? Is anyone willing to ration water that has been too depleted to provide spawning grounds?

Let's do that before we slaughter the sea lions.

[DCKit]

5. Agree. And don't forget the dams. n/t

[XemaSab]

10. Exactly

Looks to me like the fish are concentrated unnaturally at the dam.

[flyingfysh]

6. There is an easy solution

Stop killing sharks. Sharks prey on seals.

[Buzz Clik]

9. Or they could feed penguins to the sea lions

[hatrack]

12. Yes, it's those pesky sea lions - decades of dam-building have NOTHING to do with it!

:eyes:

[GliderGuider]

13. What about culling the real predators?

That two-legged invasive species that now infests most of the planetary surface...

I think Mother Nature is going to get around to that relatively soon.

[The2ndWheel]

14. Yet another example

of us making a problem we created bigger and more complex with our solution. By needing to kill 80 sea lions every year, we'll screw something else up(which will probably require more killing), we won't save any salmon, and we'll figure out that we have to kill 100 of some other species every year.

We want everything, so nothing else can survive. We want the river, so the fish need to go. We want to feel better about ourselves for taking out the fish, so the sea lions have to go. It's pretty much come down to Life vs. Humans. 2 will enter, 1 will leave. As long as we can make artificial fish to eat, we might actually have a shot at winning this thing.