Sea lion removal OK'd to save fish

March 19, 2008
As early as the first week of April, up to 60 California sea lions could be trapped and taken from the ongoing buffet of spring-run Chinook salmon at the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.
About a dozen could end up at aquatic parks, zoos and aquariums.
Others could be killed.
On Monday, federal officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent a letter of authorization to Oregon and Washington officials that allow the removal — including by lethal means — of up to 60 of the animals under Section 120 of the Marina Mammal Protection Act.
"I think that's great news," said Dale Ballard, a board member with the Salem Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association. "And I'm sure that every CCA member right now is applauding that decision."
Officials for the three states petitioned for the authorization in 2006, and a task force were set up to come up with recommendations.
Officials for all three states said that the need for some form of control was obvious.
From a few dozen to more than 100, a growing population of the sea lions arrived annually at Bonneville, 150 miles from the Pacific, to feast on the annual spawning run of the salmon.
The wild portion of the salmon run is federally protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Hazing using seal bombs and rubber bullets didn't stop them. Neither did trapping and trucking them to the mouth of the Columbia River. Those animals were back at the fish ladders within days.
One sea lion known as C404 managed to wriggle through a jail-like bar system designed to keep sea lions out and was seen munching on salmon in the window in the fish ladder at the dam.
The lone dissenter to the task force's call for removal of the sea lions is Sharon Young, the marine issues field director for the Humane Society of the United States.
"I think in general that this proposal represents a waste of time and money and lives," she said about the NOAA authorization.
"It's trying to scapegoat a natural predator and divert the attention from the real problems that the fish are facing, such as dams, such as habitat loss, such as issues related to fishery impacts."
Dennis Richey, the executive director of Oregon Anglers and also a member of the task force, said the plan doesn't go far enough.
"I feel that we're going to end up killing more sea lions this way than we would if we were able to just bump them off and leave them in the river," he said. "It sounds somewhat heartless, but these animals learn from each other.
"So in the long run you're going to end up killing a lot more of them because you're not giving them the opportunity to learn that this is a dangerous place."
While Young and Richey represented opposite ends of the spectrum, many people, including those representing state agencies, said killing sea lions was a sad but necessary approach.
"It's one of those kind of mixed blessings; it's kind of bittersweet," said Trey Carskadon, the government affairs director for the Northwest Sport fishing Industry Association. "You know you hate to see gorgeous animals like that removed.
"I don't think that NSIA has been as rabid on this as maybe some of the other sport groups, just because we wanted to exhaust all of the options. You know, nobody feels good … I hope nobody feels good about having to do this … but it's really truly a last resort."
Barring legal challenges — and several animal rights groups have said they are exploring that option — here's the time line.
Receipt of the letter authorizing removal opened a 14-day process in Washington, the State Environmental Policy Act, which consists of a two-week public-comment period.
During that time, the Oregon state attorney general's office will examine the NOAA documents.
By the end of next week, officials must advise the NOAA of its plan for implementing the program.
Traps will be built and moved to staging areas on the river, said Rick Hargrave, the Information and Education Section manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Washington officials simultaneously will be working on a Security and Safety Plan.
Sea lions that are going to zoos, aquariums and aquatic theme parks will be held at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium near Tacoma, Wash.
Animals that are to be euthanized will be held for the mandatory 48-hour waiting period at secure, undisclosed sites, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Once trapped, there is a mandatory 48-hour hold placed on the sea lions for any animal facilities such as zoos or aquariums to request them.
Such facilities would pay the costs of shipping and holding them at Point Defiance.
There has been interest expressed by Sea World and the St. Louis Zoo to take about 12 of the animals, Hargrave said.
How many of the sea lions will be killed depends on the effectiveness of the removal on the others that remain at the dam.
If removal starts the first week of April, it will take place during the peak of the spring Chinook run, Hargrave said.
It's also a time in which the sea lion population. also is at its peak.
"There isn't a rush in the agency, and I can't speak for Washington, but there isn't a rush in the agency to jump immediately into the lethal option," Hargrave said. "We understand that it's a sensitive situation.
"And we want to methodical about this and working together to ensure that we do things safety and within the letter of authorization.
"No one wants to kill these animals, but you're talking about an issue about where you're trying to restore the balance. And this provides an additional tool that we can dip into."
The only other sea lion removal authorization was at Ballard Locks near Seattle in the 1990s.
Before an order to kill them went into effect, however, a public outcry resulted in a reprieve, and Sea World in Florida took three identified as troublemakers.
The sea lions had killed up to 65 percent of the winter steelhead at the locks linking Puget Sound with Union and Washington lakes, and the run has not fully recovered
Martin James writes Commonsense prevails in the United States, what about culling the seals that are damaging our fisheries in the UK, thankfully the Canadian Government are going ahead with their seal cull.