https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/senate-passes-bill-making-it-easier-to-kill-sea-lions/2018/12/07/37a6c266-fa78-11e8-8642-c9718a256cbd_story.html?utm_term=.a80fc4ac6af3
Not sure if this has already been posted, please let me know, but bill 3119 has cleared the Senate and is continuing onward. For those who don't want to read the article, the general concept of the Bill is to make it easier for Fish & Game to kill sea lions by eliminating the need to see a seal lion eating a salmon, then using non-lethal methods of deterrent, and if that dowsn't work tracking the animal and making sure you kill the exact same sea lion that you observed. Up to some 920 sea lions could be captured and euthanized, with a federal permit that F&G as well as tribes can get) as long as they are east of the I-205 bridge. While the bill isn't law yet, it is certainly a good to see that sea lions are finally being acknowledged as a serious threat to salmon.
Great idea, but about 20 years overdue!
That is Great for the Columbia but what about the Willamette River which is west of 205, where it is reported they decimated one run of salmon to 500 fish. The good point is they finally see there is a major problem.
H-T
The Williamette is West of 205, true enough. The article reads "Both the House and Senate bills would remove those requirements, so states and several Native American tribes could get a federal permit to remove any sea lion east of the Interstate 205 bridge that connects Vancouver with Portland, as well as in tributaries of the Columbia River where there are federally protected fish." (emphasis added)
The Willamette is a tributary to the Columbia containing several federally protected species with documented sea lion predation...
StreamFixer
The guys over on ifish have been beating this topic to death for a while. The real issue on the willamette is going to be the shear number of them in the river system between the clackamas and the falls. I read one article where they mentioned the number they'd be able to cull in the willy, which would just be a drop in the bucket. I don't even bother fishing down that way any more, there's just too many of them to deal with.
In the past few seasons I've only seen a handful below the sellwood bridge, but I've heard of days when the furbag interceptions outnumber fish boated down by oregon city. I wonder if when they start the culling if those remaining are just going to learn to move down river and take over the harbor and channel areas. It could be an interesting spring season, current run conditions/predictions notwithstanding.
It's definitely a problem that needs to be addressed...... I personally am in favor of immediate and decisive action to simply and decidedly cull the overall population down to numbers that are balanced and manageable and then continue the management as necessary..
One solution in the interim might be a solution that would allow for the darting of males with something that would permanently sterilize them from procreating. Not sure if that option exists, but if it does I think it would at least be something immediately palatable to the public and would be a beginning to keeping the problem from getting worse.
But the neutered males would keep munching salmon...
Yep.... no doubt about that. But at least they would stop making more little salmon eaters. I agree not the end all solution but at least a step that I don't think anyone would have issues with... While their at it, there are probably a few Einstein Award people that could use that dart also...
Heard sometime back that permanently removing sea lions, particularly the more aggressive ones, out of the group causes the rest to disperse. That may just be wishful thinking, but if this new law is aggressively pursued, and enough animals are removed we may find out.
(Dave)
If they need volunteer shooters where do we apply?
This is a good first step but it needs to be drastically expanded to include some seals and geographic areas well beyond the Columbia.
It needs to be extended all the way down to Southern California. :1zhelp:
Quote from: AP on December 24, 2018, 10:41:05 AM
This is a good first step but it needs to be drastically expanded to include some seals and geographic areas well beyond the Columbia.
For sure. It is a good first step in culling their population, much to the dismay of hardcore animal lovers I imagine.