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Thread: My state begins killing sea lions to save salmon

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    Thumbs up My state begins killing sea lions to save salmon

    State begins killing sea lions at Willamette Falls to save salmon

    By Kale Williams | The Oregonian/OregonLive

    State wildlife officials have begun killing California sea lions at Willamette Falls in an effort to save an imperiled run of salmon that’s in danger of extinction.
    As of Thursday morning, four sea lions had been removed from the falls and euthanized at a second location, according to officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The removals were authorized under a federal permit because sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
    Sea lions have been removed from below Bonneville Dam previously under a similar permit.
    For more than a decade, growing numbers of sea lions have been swimming more than 100 miles upstream from the mouth of the Columbia River to Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls, where migrating salmon tend to congregate.
    The result was a smorgasbord for the sea lions and a precarious situation for the fish, which have been declining in numbers for a variety of factors including the dams themselves and changes to salmon habitat.
    Wildlife managers have tried a number of alternatives. Exclusion gates have been installed at the entrances to fish ladders at the falls. Sea lions have been hazed with firecracker shells fired from shotguns and underwater explosives. The animals have also been trapped and relocated, driven hundreds of miles and released into the ocean, only to return to the falls within days.None of those efforts have proved effective at stemming the sea lions' predatory predilection for salmon.
    “This is very specific behavior,” said Sheanna Steingass, marine mammal program lead for the state.
    And the behavior was being learned, passed on from one sea lion to the next.
    The permit allows for the removal of up to 93 California sea lions, Steingass said, but only if the animals have been observed for two or more days near the falls or have been seen actively preying on salmon. Steingass doesn’t expect that many animals to be killed, though. By May, when sea lions usually return to the open ocean, she said the agency was likely to kill no more than 40 or 50 sea lions.
    The permitted kills are separate from legislation that was passed last year that would allow for the lethal removal of sea lions from the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Though that legislation passed, it still needs to go through a the full federal permitting process, including obtaining recommendations from a task force of experts and going through a period during which stakeholders can offer input.


    The bill met some opposition from conservation groups as it moved through Congress, but was passed and signed into law in late 2017.
    Travis Williams, executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper, still has issues with the practice of killing sea lions to save fish.

    “It’s unfortunate that after decades of impacts from dams, habitat modifications and hatcheries, that it’s come down to euthanizing sea lions to save the relatively few steelhead we have left,” he said.
    The theory behind the lethal removals, those animals that are removed won’t be able to pass on their predatory behavior on to other sea lions. Steingass said the hope was that, with the removal of the sea lions this year, far fewer animals would make the journey next year.
    To kill the sea lions, wildlife biologists use the same traps that were unsuccessfully used in their relocation efforts. The animals are taken to a location offsite, anesthetized and euthanized using a combination of chemicals.
    “As a pinniped biologist, it’s better for the salmon,” Steingass said, “but it’s better for the pinnipeds too because we won’t have hundreds of other animals learning this behavior.”
    -- Kale Williams
    State begins killing sea lions at Willamette Falls to save salmon | oregonlive.com

    Alaska Born ~ Oregon Grown

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    Hopefully they're beating them with clubs
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    I've never been more torn, angry, sad, confused, and frustrated than I have with this whole process. Some of you may or may not know but I work for a conservation organization that deals directly with Oregon's wild salmon population and i've had the ability to go all over the state to help conduct research, log data, track progress, and to observe these awesome animals. For those of you that may not know, the area that this is taking place basically turns into a kill box for these salmon as they gather and wait to continue their journey. When the sea lions get there they can literally gorge themselves on these endangered fish and decimate large percentages of the run. So on that end I can understand why there would be advocates for this type of deadly force in order to save the runs. However, my anger sits with these same people, including ODFW, that wants to put the blame on sea lions and not the real reasons why salmon runs in this state and in other parts of the country are being decimated.

    It's not sea lions. It's the goddamn dams (as they are often referred to in our building) that for decades have blocked, hindered, and harmed these runs, it's the destruction of habitat, it's overfishing, it's leaving these fish vulnerable to predation, pollution, unnecessary/unnatural competition, and people. It's OUR fault, not the sea lions. Now more innocent animals will be killed by us because of the human footprint and it will all be done in the name of conservation. Once these endangered runs go extinct, and after a lot of sea lions and salmon die, we will pat ourselves on the back for trying and continue to fail to see the forest for the trees.

    The state is basically making me choose between sea lions or the animals that I work to protect. It's not a binary choice to me or to many others like me.
    Alaska Born ~ Oregon Grown

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    I know I shouldn't come in this thread because we don't see eye to eye on just about anything but........................


    It doesn't matter how many sea lions they kill they only consume 1% no matter how many there are. It's never worked and they keep saying it's significant. You shouldn't have to make that choice and they are lying to you or selling you a lie.


    Yep the dams don't help, the other fish that don't belong are eating the babies too but the consumption what around 15% that they don't think is significant, it's only that one percent. Or how about the illegal fishing. So they just make up statistics and never address the real problems or solutions.

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    It's about time. I wish they'd adopt that policy in Washington. Seals and sea lions are a menace. They are over populated. We need to thin the herd.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chloe View Post
    I've never been more torn, angry, sad, confused, and frustrated than I have with this whole process. Some of you may or may not know but I work for a conservation organization that deals directly with Oregon's wild salmon population and i've had the ability to go all over the state to help conduct research, log data, track progress, and to observe these awesome animals. For those of you that may not know, the area that this is taking place basically turns into a kill box for these salmon as they gather and wait to continue their journey. When the sea lions get there they can literally gorge themselves on these endangered fish and decimate large percentages of the run. So on that end I can understand why there would be advocates for this type of deadly force in order to save the runs. However, my anger sits with these same people, including ODFW, that wants to put the blame on sea lions and not the real reasons why salmon runs in this state and in other parts of the country are being decimated. It's not sea lions. It's the goddamn dams (as they are often referred to in our building) that for decades have blocked, hindered, and harmed these runs, it's the destruction of habitat, it's overfishing, it's leaving these fish vulnerable to predation, pollution, unnecessary/unnatural competition, and people. It's OUR fault, not the sea lions. Now more innocent animals will be killed by us because of the human footprint and it will all be done in the name of conservation. Once these endangered runs go extinct, and after a lot of sea lions and salmon die, we will pat ourselves on the back for trying and continue to fail to see the forest for the trees.The state is basically making me choose between sea lions or the animals that I work to protect. It's not a binary choice to me or to many others like me.
    What is the purpose of these dams ??
    It's ok if you disagree with me. I can't force you to be right.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chloe View Post
    I've never been more torn, angry, sad, confused, and frustrated than I have with this whole process. Some of you may or may not know but I work for a conservation organization that deals directly with Oregon's wild salmon population and i've had the ability to go all over the state to help conduct research, log data, track progress, and to observe these awesome animals. For those of you that may not know, the area that this is taking place basically turns into a kill box for these salmon as they gather and wait to continue their journey. When the sea lions get there they can literally gorge themselves on these endangered fish and decimate large percentages of the run. So on that end I can understand why there would be advocates for this type of deadly force in order to save the runs. However, my anger sits with these same people, including ODFW, that wants to put the blame on sea lions and not the real reasons why salmon runs in this state and in other parts of the country are being decimated.

    It's not sea lions. It's the goddamn dams (as they are often referred to in our building) that for decades have blocked, hindered, and harmed these runs, it's the destruction of habitat, it's overfishing, it's leaving these fish vulnerable to predation, pollution, unnecessary/unnatural competition, and people. It's OUR fault, not the sea lions. Now more innocent animals will be killed by us because of the human footprint and it will all be done in the name of conservation. Once these endangered runs go extinct, and after a lot of sea lions and salmon die, we will pat ourselves on the back for trying and continue to fail to see the forest for the trees.

    The state is basically making me choose between sea lions or the animals that I work to protect. It's not a binary choice to me or to many others like me.

    The dams have fish ladders. They work well. Seals congregate at fish ladders and feast on salmon.


    The only people overfishing are the tribals. They are complete irresponsible, but no one gives a $#@!.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tahuyaman View Post
    The dams have fish ladders. They work well. Seals congregate at fish ladders and feast on salmon.


    The only people overfishing are the tribals. They are complete irresponsible, but no one gives a $#@!.
    They are well within their Rights to do so. but they aren't alone in thinning the herd. Thousands of sport fishermen fish those rivers every year, bears consume whatever they can catch, and many salmon sicken and die. Salmon also only return to breed once in their lifespan. They breed and then die.
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    Well those scientist keep introducing foreign fish that don't belong there, that eats the babies but they scream at the sea lions. Sometimes what you can't see is the problem. You can see the sea lions, companies that harvest, the dams, the illegal fishing but those foreign fish do more harm than all of this.

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    Quote Originally Posted by roadmaster View Post
    Well those scientist keep introducing foreign fish that don't belong there, that eats the babies but they scream at the sea lions. Sometimes what you can't see is the problem. You can see the sea lions, companies that harvest, the dams, the illegal fishing but those foreign fish do more harm than all of this.
    What?
    my junk is ugly

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