US authorities have given wildlife managers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho permission to start killing hundreds of sea lions in the Columbia River basin in hopes of helping struggling salmon and steelhead trout. The marine mammals long ago figured out that they could feast on the migrating fish where they bottleneck at dams or where they head up tributaries to spawn. The new permit allows the states and several Native American tribes to kill 540 California sea lions and 176 Steller sea lions over the next five years along a 180-mile (290km) stretch of the Columbia, from Portland to the McNary Dam upriver, as well as in several tributaries. It’s the first time they have been allowed to kill the much larger Steller sea lions.
The sea lions, whose populations generally are healthy, have posed a long-running conundrum for wildlife officials, pitting mammals protected under federal law against protected – and valuable – fish runs. Complicating matters is that Columbia River salmon are a key food source for the Pacific north-west’s endangered population of orcas, which scientists say are at risk of extinction if they don’t get more sustenance.
Under changes to the Marine Mammal Protection Act two years ago, authorities will no longer face such restrictions. They will be able to tranquilize, capture or trap any sea lions in the area, then bring them to another location to give them a lethal injection. The permit forbids them from shooting sea lions. Sharon Young, senior strategist for marine wildlife at the Humane Society, called the sea lions the least of the salmon’s problems. Fishing, competition from hatchery fish and habitat loss, including dams and culverts that block their passage or raise water temperatures, are far more serious, she said.
Source: Guardian
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