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Sea Lions And Trappers Disengage

BY TOM BANSE

Olympia, WA  May 27, 2009 4:04 p.m.

Oregon and Washington wildlife agents are dismantling their sea lion traps below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.  The states think the trapping -- and ten executions -- reduced the predation on this year’s spring salmon run.  Correspondent Tom Banse reports.


The states of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington won federal permission to trap and kill sea lions that prey on endangered salmon in the lower Columbia River.

The season started in March with a hit list of about 80 individually indentified California sea lions.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Craig Bartlett says 14 of those were captured.  Ten were euthanized and four banished to aquariums.

Craig Bartlett: “We would have liked to remove more animals this year.  (But) this is a multi-year project.  So we expect to be at this for several more years.”

Bartlett says final numbers on the spring salmon run are not yet in. But he says it appears the pack of sea lions ate fewer salmon this year. 

Most of the sea lions have now departed for their southern breeding grounds. 

Coming up next is a trial in federal appeals court.  The Humane Society is attempting to stop the sea lion killings.  
 
On the web:
 
Photo for web-posting [0527TB_Sealions.jpg] Courtesy of ODFW
 
Oregon Fish & Wildlife sea lion update:
[ http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/SeaLion/index.asp ]http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/SeaLion/index.asp

© 2009 KUOW

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Comments

May 27, 2009
11:02 p.m.
Is the trapping ending for the year? Or are they still going to kill them in Astoria? I understand one of the last they killed had actually been trapped all the way out in Astoria! I do not want my tax dollars going to pay for ill-informed knuckle heads like these fish and wildlife knots to be foolishly executing marine mammals. This is utterly indefensible. It's insane to blame natural predators for the decline of salmon. Who comes up with this nonsense?

— Posted by OregonNative

May 28, 2009
9:53 a.m.
What I would like to see happen is an in depth analysis by OPB of what is really causing salmon depletion in the Columbia basin. Natural predators such as sea lions have been eating salmon for thousands of years. Yet the salmon runs were not depleted. However, when hydropower, agriculture with its pollutants and overfishing entered the picture, the runs died down and salmon are now endangered. The oceans are acidic especially along the coast regions. The sea lions are not able to find enough salmon in the ocean to survive as before. Thus, they are going where they can find the fish. It is a systemic problem and tackling it by killing a predator species, who is simply acting on instinct is not only cruel but ineffective in solving the bigger problem. We need an independent media, not reliant on commercial interests to pursue this subject. OPB, please report the full scope of this story.

— Posted by ecofriendly

May 28, 2009
1:02 p.m.
Let's hope that the sea lion slaughter program will finally end before any more of these innocent animals are killed. We need to find the real solutions to the salmon problem rather than lash out at another species for no good reason. Everyone knows that the dams kill far more salmon than anything else on the river and the gill nets follow closely behind. Killing sea lions will do NOTHING to help the salmon. Can't we get this right?

— Posted by dapplehound


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