Judge rules Wash., Ore. can keep on killing sea lions
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service did not err when it reauthorized a program targeting sea lions for death in the Pacific Northwest.
Judge Michael Simon said in a ruling issued Friday that the program intended to preserve endangered salmon by killing sea lions is within the bounds of the fisheries service.
"This case is about how Congress, NMFS, and the States have tried to balance the protection of sea lions with the protection of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead," Simon wrote.
The program was reauthorized last year, through June 2016.
The Humane Society of the United States sued, saying the program targeting sea lions is arbitrary. They say the animals consume, at most, 4 percent of the salmon coming through the Bonneville Dam. Commercial and sport fishers, by contrast, take nearly 17 percent, The Oregonian reported.
Simon said fishery managers can scale back fishing when runs are low but can't do the same for sea lions.
The states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho backed the plan, part of an effort to keep alive five runs of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act that pass Bonneville, the first dam they encounter on the Columbia River.
Under the re-authorization, the states are allowed to kill up to 92 of the animals a year, either by lethal injection or shooting them. They have to be identified as eating salmon and not deterred by hazing efforts.
Barring a successful appeal, the decision means the lethal-take program will resume when the seal lions return to Bonneville this spring. NMFS plans to assess the program again after 2016.
Judge Michael Simon said in a ruling issued Friday that the program intended to preserve endangered salmon by killing sea lions is within the bounds of the fisheries service.
"This case is about how Congress, NMFS, and the States have tried to balance the protection of sea lions with the protection of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead," Simon wrote.
The program was reauthorized last year, through June 2016.
The Humane Society of the United States sued, saying the program targeting sea lions is arbitrary. They say the animals consume, at most, 4 percent of the salmon coming through the Bonneville Dam. Commercial and sport fishers, by contrast, take nearly 17 percent, The Oregonian reported.
Simon said fishery managers can scale back fishing when runs are low but can't do the same for sea lions.
The states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho backed the plan, part of an effort to keep alive five runs of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act that pass Bonneville, the first dam they encounter on the Columbia River.
Under the re-authorization, the states are allowed to kill up to 92 of the animals a year, either by lethal injection or shooting them. They have to be identified as eating salmon and not deterred by hazing efforts.
Barring a successful appeal, the decision means the lethal-take program will resume when the seal lions return to Bonneville this spring. NMFS plans to assess the program again after 2016.
Those sea lions; we warned them that they were being destructive to this planet. I love how in the 3rd most populated country, in a planet of 7+ billion people where it takes the earth 1.5 earth years to replenish what resources humans consume in 1 calendar year; we find it fitting to kill off 90 sea lions per year for eating salmon.
We kill a pack of wolves, Palin style from a helicopter in eastern washington after we reintroduce them (after we nearly exterminated them) because they eat our livestock. We kill sea lions for eating salmon, like they have been doing for thousands, millions of years. We are such great stewards to this planet,
It's about time. Fire away!
Perhaps they could do away with gilnet fishing and save the sea lions.Â
@Jatok Gotta love the Democrat's perhaps they could Ban it and save the sea lions
I've followed your comments, and you turn everything into a damn political circus. I find it interesting how you conservatives, or if you want to turn this into a political waste of time - Republicans; concemn eco-wackjobs like myself for trying to save salmon. Then when we suggest saving sea lions instead of salmon, you turn that against us. Dude, you are a joke and you have zero platform. Any chance you can get to start some kind of political arguement about nothing with liberals, you will do it.
It would be so nice just once to have a conversation without having it made into a party issue. I don't think either party is all that great given the mess this country is in.Â
Gotta love the Republicans. They never stayed awake in school.
you mean, "break" it to you, "fishermen", "since" the 1950s
@Jatok I hate to brake it to you the commercial and tribal fisherman have been shooting sea lions that I know sense the 50's. That is the truth this is nothing New. Keep the Judge and the Politicians out of it. The only thing that could afford to eat fish would be the sea lions
we cant shoot rapist, criminals etc but we can shoot sea lions because they are eating salmon....so interesting
I have thought long and hard on this problem will just have our representatives pass a free birth control law for sea lions may be they can hide it in Obama Care
Are all conservatives illiterate and unable to form complete sentences with proper punctuation and sentence structure, or just you?
Does anybody know? Have sea lions always been up here or is this a new phenomenon? I'm not sure as I've only been living up here since '97 and visiting for a few years before this but I sure don't remember hearing about sea lions up this way until recent years. If it's new, what caused the big influx?Â
@Elaine2 This has been going on for years. Herschel the sea lion used to camp out at the Ballard locks feasting on Salmon and Steelhead as they entered the fish ladder back in the late 70s. He is also credited with wiping out a whole run of Steelhead. Once they get the idea of easy to catch fish, they will not move on. They even trucked Herschel to California and released him. He beat the release workers back to Seattle.
@JeepRex - oic - it does seem like I've heard about it longer or maybe the news brings it up every few years or so and it seems 'new' - LOL.  Guess the sea lions know how to find food - they don't have welfare and food stamps so they gotta get it themselves... ;)  That's funny about Herschel!  Thanks for the info!
@chenoite Oh, no! Lions can swim?
@Battle_Damage Very funny.
@chenoite Thanks.
Oh the poor sealions are getting shot. Where do I sign up,it's been awhile since I've shot one. I say they have drawing for a permit,that will bring in some revenue for the state.
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Realy?
You would shoot him because he agrees that sea lions are an issue to our salmon populations, and comes up with an idea that would boost the state coffers?
You need help.
I am interested to know what the diet of the orca consists of?
@missyk oldster70 answered your question in the post just before this one. :D
Caption: âhey guys, whatâs your problem.I love Sushi and it just doesnât get any fresher than thisâ
I fish, I think it great to see so many of them back in the rivers
@AS400GURUÂ Have you noticed a significant difference, enough that you'd have noticed an increase even before learning there is a reason for it?Â
(I'm actually asking about your first-hand experience, not challenging you!)
Lets see who takes more fish--------PEOPLE. quit fishing them, people are the problem not the sea lions.
Just shoot them. Can't tell you how many chinook and coho's that have been stolen off my hook while fishing.Â
What exactly makes them yours? Just curious?
@Blindman Really the answer is NONE
@AS400GURUÂ You need to go down to the river and fish a bit more often...
@Pierce Co Repub I think you missed the point. The fish is not HIS until he lands it and keeps it. If a seal grabs the fish on your line, that is not the seal's fault. Been there done that. Barracuda fishing and salmon fishing. The real issue is the dams. The salmon have nowhere to run.
get rid of the sealions and ALL gill netting. then there will be plenty of fish for both the white (and black) man and indians to catch the old fashioned way with a fishing pole!
@dorimonsonfan I don't think Native Americans know HOW to use a fishing pole, and they would have to catch one at a time, and that would be against their centuries old tradition......just like if you were to take "Lucky Larry's Lobstermania" out of the casinos.
Sea lions and man have co-existed for hundreds of yrs.....its not the sea lions' whose population is out of control....only a blockhead couldn't see that.
@SandyBeach What do you call "co-exist" Sandy??? If you mean man HUNTED and ATE them and USED their SKINS then, yes they co-existed.
@ErieMBer @SandyBeach You missed the point----all the things you listed are for raw survival---there are too many ppl///not too many sea lions----end of story..
I would like to invite everyone that has not been fishing for spring chinook on the Columbia to come on down and see for yourself how many sea lions are now in the river...you can't go very long without seeing one anymore...I will be more than happy to cut back on my sport fishing as soon as they take the gillnets out of the river....commercial and tribal both....I can assure you that if you are not fishing in the Columbia then you really don't know what you are talking about....you can't go by the stats that the state puts out because they skew them to whatever point they are trying to make....I would love it if there were enough fish to keep everyone happy, but the nets are cutting the numbers every year...with that said I will sit back and read
This isn't about protecting an endangered species, this is about fishermen who want to max out what they can catch. Not a fair trade if you ask me.
So what about the people who are caught fishing for the endangered salmon? How many of those fisherman can be legally killed per year?
My whole point is that if sea lions are being killed to protect the salmon species, why are humans allowed to fish for those endangered salmon?
@Tattooed_Angel What cause's a salmon to become endangered. Wild or Hatchery they both do the same thing.please till the difference. there is more to it than a trimmed adipose fin that gets trimmed at hatchery's.Sport fisherman can only keep the fish that has the trimmed fin witch is a hatchery fish the one with out the trimmed fin is wild. Sportman can not keep the wild fish. Indian and commercial fisher can keep both. I will ask again Y are the Salmon Endangered, Stupid Laws For the Wrong Idea
@Mike @Tattooed_Angel Cmon man----man is responsible for fackin up this earth....any way you want to twist it.
@Tattooed_Angel A little more complicated than that, tatooey. Recreational fishing brings more money into the state economy than commercial fishing, in fact more than any other recreation draw. Commercial fishers are grandfathered. Tribal fishers are granted fish gratis, to atone for broken treaties (50% of the catch to 4% of the population per the Boldt decision).Â
 I would favor a 5 year moratorium on ALL of these fisheries to allow the resource to recover. And I love to fish.
@Tattooed_Angel Exactly!
In other news, mass human consumption of fish from the sea is resulting in significant problems. Â A State authorized hunt on humans identified as eating fish and not deterred by hazing will be shot or lethally injected.
@ETSubmariner Oh,would that it were.
when you lose half the salmon you hook to sea lions before you can get them to the boat then it is time to do something...for all you warm fuzzy people that never leave the city....SHUT UP!!!!!!
@Riverwader That's an exaggeration, and that's the counter argument's point.
"They say the animals consume, at most, 4 percent of the salmon coming through the Bonneville Dam. Commercial and sport fishers, by contrast, take nearly 17 percent"
@jowsuf That's not an exaggeration, it's happened to me too - On the Columbia River.  I wonder what the sport fisherman alone take, I'm betting less than sea lions.
@Pierce Co Repub @jowsuf Yeah maybe the sea lions should head to Albertsons.....
What a heartless decision. I hope the judge drops dead.
@Vince So Vince are you a vegan? If not, does the heartless rendering of chicken, beef and pork affect you the same way? And if you are a vegan, you don't wear any leather, do you?
@Vince Me too.