Sea lions to be killed to save salmon

[Liberal_in_LA]

:cry: :cry: they talk about the sea lions as if they are engaging in criminal behavior
Sea lions to be killed to save salmon
Abby Haight, Associated Press

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Sea lions that repeatedly kill chinook salmon in the Columbia River will be euthanized under a program in Oregon and Washington to protect the fish.

(03-09) 04:00 PST Portland, Ore. -- Wildlife officials have tried everything to keep sea lions from eating endangered salmon, dropping bombs that explode underwater and firing rubber bullets and bean bags from shotguns and boats. Now they are resorting to issuing death sentences to the most chronic offenders.

A California sea lion last week became the first salmon predator to be euthanized this year under a program that has been denounced by those who say there are far greater dangers to salmon - including the series of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River.

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"They learn. They come up here and know it's a good place to eat, and sooner or later the salmon are going to arrive," said Robert Stansell, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Officials are tracking 63 additional sea lions listed as repeat offenders. They are identified by scars or by numbers that were branded on them by researchers.

"To get on that list, we have to have observed them as distinct individuals," said Jessica Sall, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "They are not responding to hazing, and they're eating chinook salmon."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/09/MN7M1CCN93.DTL#ixzz0hjd5HyU2

[anonymous171]

1. As long as the killing is done in a restrained manner I see no problem with this

Nature needs to be managed, not coddled.

[FreakinDJ]

22. Salmon should'nt be endangered in the first place

A very profitable and extremely mismanaged fishery

Its not the Sealions, its not the fishermen, is the water usage.

We are having the same problem here in Northern California. The pumps sucking water out of the Delta so much they actually reverse the flow and it has ALL but wiped out the Salmon population

[Shell Beau]

2. Oh no! While I don't want the salmon to all be gone, I can't

imagine killing sea lions for eating what they like. Isn't there another way? :cry:

[depakid]

4. Not much else that can be done

Short of sending them off to zoos.

Relocate them- and they come right back.

[vadawg]

16. i wonder if they cull the sealions if the meat will be harvested and sold

im pretty sure they could actually make a profit that could be ploughed back into the conservation by doing this.

[depakid]

24. Doubt there's any market for greasy sea lion meat...

Ever smelled a sea lion? Gak.

[vadawg]

26. rofl, it depends how you prepare it i suppose :)

but worst thing ever to eat is seagulls, you need to really curry the meat in order to get rid of the trash taste from them, im pretty sure that the sealion would be better if prepared. hell id buy some to grill just for the hell of it..

[jmowreader]

33. It would taste very, very fishy

as fish is ALL sea lions eat.

[Shell Beau]

36. No way should this become part of our menus.

I would be 100% against that.

[vadawg]

39. why not, rather than waste the meat let someone take it

much the same as i do when i shoot deer on the highway, nothing worse than letting the meat go to waste...

[Shell Beau]

40. So then in the future when the problem is taken care of, we will still

be killing the sea lions. Nope. Not in favor, and not in favor of them killing them to begin with.

[vadawg]

41. im not talking about going out and killing them all, but im against wasting the meat

if we have to kill them then offer the meat to whoever wants it, i can guarentee there are people who would take it. ;)

[ORDagnabbit]

3. um..maybe stopping the humans from overfishing instead of killing the natural animals who eat the

damn fish.

god I cant wait till nature culls our species.

[Shell Beau]

5. I don't see a shortage of salmon at the market.

[tkmorris]

7. Most of which is farmed

The sea lions haven't invaded the salmon farms (yet).

[Shell Beau]

9. Well shit. I don't eat it, so I don't really know where it comes from.

I just hate that the sea lions will be killed for trying to survive.

[vadawg]

8. well you do have the option of helping nature along by living by your prayer

i always notice that the people who want less humans on the planet are never the ones to offer that they leave first...

[Beaverhausen]

11. absolutely correct

[Imajika]

23. Why wait?

Without hurting anyone else, you have the option of reducing the human population by 1 right now don't you?

I mean, if your really excited about the prospects of nature finding a way to reduce or eliminate the human population for the good of the earth, why not just man up and get the ball rolling? Think about all the good you'll do by reducing your carbon footprint to zero!

Yeah, I didn't think so. The people that say stuff like this really mean they hope "nature culls our species....except for me because I'm special".

[Trajan]

25. In all fairness ...

Humans ARE 'natural predators' of Salmon ....

Humans just happen to be more resourceful ...

[XemaSab]

32. Or tearing down the dams

:P

[Dover]

6. and in other news...."Humans to be killed to save the planet".

Rumors persist that this will spawn a new reality show series.

Film at 11.

[The Straight Story]

10. Good, lions belong in Africa, not out in the sea eating our fish

Just wait for it, Glen Beck will say it....

[mrs_p]

12. very sad and unfortunate

however, many species of salmon are endangered and are going extinct. sea lions will often just sit at a fish ladder and pick off fish as they enter. i believe damns should be removed and waterways reforested, but sea lions are also part of the problem. albeit, one of our making.

[anonymous171]

14. That is why controlling their populations is OK. We created this situation in the first place. nt

[nemo137]

52. In this, we agree,

[underseasurveyor]

13. Oh My God.. The sea lions are behaving like sea lions.

KILL THEM!

:banghead:

[Thothmes]

15. Not really behaving like sea lions

First they are in the Columbia River which is fresh water. Second they park at the foot of the fish ladders at Bonneyville dam and wait for the salmon to come to them.

[underseasurveyor]

27. Oh hogwash

Sea lions do not need salt water as do many of their marine bretheren. They're eating fish (OHEMGEE) which sea lions tend to do and at the same time conserving their stores of fat by eating fish that are easier to catch. WHY? Because they're hungry and they're smart. Besides with all the over-fishing it's slim pickings for them out at sea so where in the hell are they suppose to find food?

They're just trying to live and they are behaving like normal sea lions.

[Thothmes]

44. It has only been in the decade or so that

the sea lions would travel up one hundred miles of fresh water to camp out at the fish ladders. All of those salmon that swim up the Columbia River get there from the open ocean For thousands of centuries the sea lions were quite content to hunt the salmon at sea. Them fishing at the ladders has only developed over the last several years.

[underseasurveyor]

48. And people use to live in caves.

Wow evolution and survival of the fittest/smartest... what a concept.

[Goldstein1984]

29. Humans now dictate approved sea lion behavior?

Humans provided the concentrated food source and the incentive to move into fresh water.

And I can't think of any biological reason that sea lions should be restricted to salt water. Marine mammal behavior is far more flexible than that.

[anonymous171]

30. Yes we can. nt

[Goldstein1984]

42. "We can't just let nature run wild."

Alaska Republican Governor Walter J. Hickel

Thus, our unquestioned success at escorting species and entire ecosystems to the brink of extinction and beyond.

[anonymous171]

49. This entire situation is unnatural. Letting it "run wild" would be extremely negligent

[Goldstein1984]

50. We created the problem

We should look for ways other than predator control, such as controlling our own predation or removing an attractive nuisance.

The sea lions are just doing what comes naturally. We're the ones out of balance.

[Thothmes]

45. We cannot dictate behavior to these animals

but they will be killed for their recent behavior changes. No ones cares how many salmon the sea lions kill at sea. Once they enter the river and start to impact the salmon populations there, they attract our attention.

[Goldstein1984]

51. I suspect it was our changes to the ecosystem

that attracted the sea lions' attention.

[Arkana]

17. What, no due process?

[vadawg]

18. that comes after the cull, when their meat is processed and canned

:)

[underseasurveyor]

31. OOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo

Ba da boom


good one:spank:

[Goldstein1984]

19. Sadly, no different than any other form of predator control

Aerial hunting of wolves and brown bears in Alaska, for example.

Farmers used to kill Bald Eagles because they killed lambs.

There was a bounty on mountain lions for similar reasons.

The Japanese use the same excuse to justify their anachronistic cetacean killing industries--they deplete fisheries.

Bottom line: They are competing with humans for food, and humans will kill off the competition before questioning there own practices.

I wonder if Neanderthals met the same fate? Or are they alive, well, and managing predator control programs?

[anonymous171]

20. See #15. nt

[Slit Skirt]

43. thank you

humans out of control

[WillyT]

21. Where Are The Sharks & Orcas ??? - How Far Upriver Is This ???

Don't the Great Whites and Orcas usually keep Sea Lion populations in check???

:shrug:

[depakid]

28. About 100 miles upriver at the fish ladder

The sea lions just sit there and pick 'em off by the hundreds.


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[WillyT]

37. Ah Well... That's A Tad Far Upstream...

Thanks.

:hi:

[Beaverhausen]

34. How soon until they do the same with bears?

they eat waaaay more salmon.

[Shell Beau]

38. It's pisses me off.

I can't give any alternatives, but I don't like this one bit. I don't want the salmon to be diminished beyond repair (for lack of a better word), but I feel like there has to be something else beyond killing the sea lions, or whatever animal may come next.

[Thothmes]

47. Bears do not impact the salmon populations of the

lower Columbia River. They are safe.

[cliffordu]

35. It has to be done - The sea lions will take one bite out of

a salmon and let it drift off to rot -

If they were just killing what they eat, I think that would be one thing, but they can kill a couple thousand a week and eat a couple dozen....

[underseasurveyor]

46. And the bears mostly eat the skin and roe of the salmon.

Therefore do we kill bears that feed on too much salmon?

When the bear is finished with the parts it wants the rest of the fish remains are then consumed by other wildlife. I doubt there is much rotting salmon.

[Liberal_in_LA]

54. Why do they do that? Take the one bite?

[WVRICK13]

53. Yes, They Are Eating Salmon

so are we. If I were religious I would say they are interfering with gods plan. Since I'm not I'll just say they are so fucked in the head it amazes me.