Sea Lion Removal Approved
At the request of agencies in Oregon and Washington hoping to protect endangered salmon, NOAA recently approved the removal of up to 60 sea lions near Bonneville Dam to reduce unnatural predation on salmon stocks as they pass through the dam’s fishway. You can read more about the issue in a blog post I wrote a short while ago regarding this issue. You can also read the full news story here.
I’m very sad about this. Not only for the sea lions, but for the salmon. I’ve lived on the Columbia since I was ten years old. I learned to fish even before that. I love this river, this region, and the salmon. And for that reason, I have been unable to swallow the propaganda having to do with the sea lions. Anyone who cares about fishing, and about this region, should be very worried here. Sea lions are natural predators, a natural part of the food chain. They are native to the Columbia. If the salmon are so imperiled that sea lions are a threat to their survival, then clearly something else is going on here. And that something is worthy of investigating. I do not think a good job has been done in that department.
We all know what is really killing off the salmon: The dam, for one. The nets on the river, for another. That’s just crazy to have commercial nets on the river. The tribal over-fishing is an issue. And, let’s face it, even people like me, who love to be outdoors and catch fish. There are not enough salmon to sustain us right now. We all need to step up and leave them alone. I see sports fishermen doing that, but I don’t see the tribes doing it, I don’t see the commercial fishermen doing it, and I do NOT see the BPA doing it. Sea lions are not responsible for this mess, and there is no way that killing them is going to help. We are letting the commercial people and the power people pull the wool right over our eyes if we let them sell this to us.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
[...] Dam to reduce unnatural predation on salmon stocks as they pass through the dam??s fishway.http://skinnymoose.com/fishgeek/2008/03/20/sea-lion-removal-approved/California Sea Lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaShort of lethal removal, attempts have been [...]
May 10th, 2008 at 11:53 pm