[6] NOAA Fisheries Wants Comment On Sea Lion Assessment
NOAA Fisheries announced Jan. 17 it is soliciting public comment on four potential alternatives to reduce marine mammal predation on ESA-listed salmon and steelhead below Bonneville Dam.
The agency's assessment is the latest step in a process that began in 2006 when Washington, Oregon and Idaho filed requests to kill some of the predatory sea lions.
The agency is recommending an alternative that would allow the states to kill up to 30 animals a year, if the marine mammals cannot be deterred by non-lethal means.
Other alternatives include: take no action; use only non-lethal deterrence; and a more draconian one similar to what the states have already suggested--killing up to 150 animals a year within five miles of the dam.
Washington Congressman Doc Hastings (R), said he was encouraged that the fisheries service recognized the need for lethal removal. Hastings, along with fellow lawmaker Brian Baird (D), co-authored legislation to expedite federal permits for lethal removal of some sea lions, but it has not got out of committee.
"I'm hopeful this process will move forward quickly to give state and tribal officials all the tools they need to stop the feeding frenzy," Hastings said in a Jan. 17 press release.
Lower Columbia tribes also supported the lethal removal of pesky sea lions. "Today NOAA took an important step toward giving fisheries managers a critically needed tool to protect the salmon," said Fidelia Andy, chairwoman of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. "Lack of action toward the real and immediate threat of sea lion predation is unacceptable. We don't want another Ballard Locks-like debacle. We refuse to allow Columbia River spring chinook to be driven into extinction as the Lake Washington steelhead were in the 1990s."
The Corps of Engineers has estimated that sea lions near Bonneville Dam have been chewing their way through 3 to 4 percent of the spring chinook run annually in the past few years. -B. R.
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