From habitat projects to breeding and stocking programs, it appears that nothing short of removing dams will reverse declines in Pacific Salmon populations in the Northwest. At least that’s what most experts believe.

But removing predators could make a difference, albeit small. In addition to the many predatory birds that take advantage of the highly altered travelways of migrating salmon, sea lions stack up near fish ladders in places like Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, eating all the salmon they can catch.

NOAA Fisheries Service recently recommended killing about 30 sea lions at the Dam, far fewer than Washington, Oregon and Idaho had hoped for, but it’s a start.

At least three runs of salmon passing through Bonneville Dam are threatened. Sea lions are not. But that pesky Marine Mammal Protection Act prevents states from doing anything about the sea lion problem without permission from the feds. And permission from the feds to do most things (as you may know) can take time.

I’m not saying that predators like sea lions are necessarily bad.  In fact, they play an important ecological role in their natural environment. But they’re chomping down on some very valuable salmon that we’re paying big money to save, under conditions far from ‘natural’ at the base of fish ladders.

Animal rights activists will no doubt pressure NOAA significantly, turning this into a huge issue likely requiring large amounts of red tape.

But on a positive note, sea lion control might actually make a difference. I for one hope that NOAA commits to this wholeheartedly and tries to make it work. Let’s do every reasonable thing within our power to give salmon a chance to recover.