Wildlife plan would kill sea lions

BOISE, Idaho — More than 1,100 sea lions could be killed annually along a stretch of the Columbia River on the OregonWashington line to boost faltering populations of salmon and steelhead, federal officials said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service says it’s taking public comments through Oct. 29 on the plan requested by Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Native American tribes.

The agency says billions of dollars on habitat restoration, fish passage at dams and other efforts have been spent in the three states in the past several decades to save 13 species of Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act.

But sea lions have

learned that fish gather at dams and are easy to catch, an opportunity not available when the Columbia was freeflowing.

“The changes in the system have created this sort of pinchpoint where sea lions can take advantage of the fish,” said Michael Milstein, a spokesman for National Marine Fisheries Service.

About 900 California sea lions and 250 Steller

sea lions could be killed each year, starting about 110 miles from the river’s mouth and extending 300 miles upstream. Experts say sea lions in that area are exclusively preying on salmon and steelhead.

The Wild Fish Conservancy, which works to recover and conserve fish, opposes killing sea lions. The group says habitat destruction, dams and overharvest have far greater impacts.

Killing sea lions “is a kind of scapegoating when there are a lot of other actions we are choosing not to do that would have a larger impact,” said Emma Helverson, spokeswoman for the group.

The National Marine Fisheries Service already allows up to 92 California sea lions to be killed annually at Bonneville Dam, which is within the stretch of river in the new plan.

The new plan expands the area where sea lions can be killed, allows tribes to take part in removing sea lions, and adds Steller sea lions for removal. Currently, state and federal workers capture California sea lions near Bonneville Dam and they are later euthanized.

Last year Steller sea lions outnumbered California sea lions at Bonneville dam. Nearly all the sea lions are males bulking up on fish before heading back to the Pacific Ocean and then to breeding grounds.