Sea lions to be killed to save salmon

:cry: :cry: they talk about the sea lions as if they are engaging in criminal behavior
Sea lions to be killed to save salmon
Abby Haight, Associated Press

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Sea lions that repeatedly kill chinook salmon in the Columbia River will be euthanized under a program in Oregon and Washington to protect the fish.

(03-09) 04:00 PST Portland, Ore. -- Wildlife officials have tried everything to keep sea lions from eating endangered salmon, dropping bombs that explode underwater and firing rubber bullets and bean bags from shotguns and boats. Now they are resorting to issuing death sentences to the most chronic offenders.

A California sea lion last week became the first salmon predator to be euthanized this year under a program that has been denounced by those who say there are far greater dangers to salmon - including the series of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River.

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"They learn. They come up here and know it's a good place to eat, and sooner or later the salmon are going to arrive," said Robert Stansell, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Officials are tracking 63 additional sea lions listed as repeat offenders. They are identified by scars or by numbers that were branded on them by researchers.

"To get on that list, we have to have observed them as distinct individuals," said Jessica Sall, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "They are not responding to hazing, and they're eating chinook salmon."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/09/MN7M1CCN93.DTL#ixzz0hjd5HyU2

Nature needs to be managed, not coddled.

A very profitable and extremely mismanaged fishery

Its not the Sealions, its not the fishermen, is the water usage.

We are having the same problem here in Northern California. The pumps sucking water out of the Delta so much they actually reverse the flow and it has ALL but wiped out the Salmon population

imagine killing sea lions for eating what they like. Isn't there another way? :cry:

Short of sending them off to zoos.

Relocate them- and they come right back.

im pretty sure they could actually make a profit that could be ploughed back into the conservation by doing this.

Ever smelled a sea lion? Gak.

but worst thing ever to eat is seagulls, you need to really curry the meat in order to get rid of the trash taste from them, im pretty sure that the sealion would be better if prepared. hell id buy some to grill just for the hell of it..

as fish is ALL sea lions eat.

I would be 100% against that.

much the same as i do when i shoot deer on the highway, nothing worse than letting the meat go to waste...

be killing the sea lions. Nope. Not in favor, and not in favor of them killing them to begin with.

if we have to kill them then offer the meat to whoever wants it, i can guarentee there are people who would take it. ;)

damn fish.

god I cant wait till nature culls our species.

The sea lions haven't invaded the salmon farms (yet).

I just hate that the sea lions will be killed for trying to survive.

i always notice that the people who want less humans on the planet are never the ones to offer that they leave first...

Without hurting anyone else, you have the option of reducing the human population by 1 right now don't you?

I mean, if your really excited about the prospects of nature finding a way to reduce or eliminate the human population for the good of the earth, why not just man up and get the ball rolling? Think about all the good you'll do by reducing your carbon footprint to zero!

Yeah, I didn't think so. The people that say stuff like this really mean they hope "nature culls our species....except for me because I'm special".

Humans ARE 'natural predators' of Salmon ....

Humans just happen to be more resourceful ...

:P

Rumors persist that this will spawn a new reality show series.

Film at 11.

Just wait for it, Glen Beck will say it....

however, many species of salmon are endangered and are going extinct. sea lions will often just sit at a fish ladder and pick off fish as they enter. i believe damns should be removed and waterways reforested, but sea lions are also part of the problem. albeit, one of our making.

KILL THEM!

:banghead:

First they are in the Columbia River which is fresh water. Second they park at the foot of the fish ladders at Bonneyville dam and wait for the salmon to come to them.

Sea lions do not need salt water as do many of their marine bretheren. They're eating fish (OHEMGEE) which sea lions tend to do and at the same time conserving their stores of fat by eating fish that are easier to catch. WHY? Because they're hungry and they're smart. Besides with all the over-fishing it's slim pickings for them out at sea so where in the hell are they suppose to find food?

They're just trying to live and they are behaving like normal sea lions.

the sea lions would travel up one hundred miles of fresh water to camp out at the fish ladders. All of those salmon that swim up the Columbia River get there from the open ocean For thousands of centuries the sea lions were quite content to hunt the salmon at sea. Them fishing at the ladders has only developed over the last several years.

Wow evolution and survival of the fittest/smartest... what a concept.

Humans provided the concentrated food source and the incentive to move into fresh water.

And I can't think of any biological reason that sea lions should be restricted to salt water. Marine mammal behavior is far more flexible than that.

Alaska Republican Governor Walter J. Hickel

Thus, our unquestioned success at escorting species and entire ecosystems to the brink of extinction and beyond.

We should look for ways other than predator control, such as controlling our own predation or removing an attractive nuisance.

The sea lions are just doing what comes naturally. We're the ones out of balance.

but they will be killed for their recent behavior changes. No ones cares how many salmon the sea lions kill at sea. Once they enter the river and start to impact the salmon populations there, they attract our attention.

that attracted the sea lions' attention.

:)

Ba da boom


good one:spank:

Aerial hunting of wolves and brown bears in Alaska, for example.

Farmers used to kill Bald Eagles because they killed lambs.

There was a bounty on mountain lions for similar reasons.

The Japanese use the same excuse to justify their anachronistic cetacean killing industries--they deplete fisheries.

Bottom line: They are competing with humans for food, and humans will kill off the competition before questioning there own practices.

I wonder if Neanderthals met the same fate? Or are they alive, well, and managing predator control programs?

humans out of control

Don't the Great Whites and Orcas usually keep Sea Lion populations in check???

:shrug:

The sea lions just sit there and pick 'em off by the hundreds.


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Thanks.

:hi:

they eat waaaay more salmon.

I can't give any alternatives, but I don't like this one bit. I don't want the salmon to be diminished beyond repair (for lack of a better word), but I feel like there has to be something else beyond killing the sea lions, or whatever animal may come next.

lower Columbia River. They are safe.

a salmon and let it drift off to rot -

If they were just killing what they eat, I think that would be one thing, but they can kill a couple thousand a week and eat a couple dozen....

Therefore do we kill bears that feed on too much salmon?

When the bear is finished with the parts it wants the rest of the fish remains are then consumed by other wildlife. I doubt there is much rotting salmon.

so are we. If I were religious I would say they are interfering with gods plan. Since I'm not I'll just say they are so fucked in the head it amazes me.