Winter Steelhead Run Appears Strong At Ballard Locks So Far, Sightings Of Sea Lions Are Rare; Season Too Early To Declare Success

So far, the winter run of steelhead at the Ballard Locks has been surprisingly strong. And sightings of voracious sea lions have been surprisingly rare.

Scientists are cautious at this early stage. The run doesn’t peak until March, and it will be at least another month before biologists project a total.

“It does appear that there are more fish this year than at this time last year,” said Bob Everitt, regional director of the state Fish and Wildlife Department. “If it continues, it will be a good year.”

But he’s more forthcoming about the lack of sea lions.

Last year, about 230 fish went through the locks, down from more than 1,000 a decade ago and 3,000 or more in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Many blamed the decline on highly visible sea lions, who hung out at the locks to scarf up steelhead as the fish were channeled toward narrow fish ladders. Other factors, including habitat changes, fishing and the design of the locks themselves, have also been cited.

Last spring, wildlife officials were determined to reduce the sea-lion threat. Plans were made to kill the greediest of the huge, sleek water acrobats, but the animals got a reprieve when a marine park in Florida volunteered to take them in.

Three sea lions, who accounted for about three-quarters of the fish eaten, were captured and shipped south.

The ones that remain aren’t as used to the locks or the underwater noisemakers installed to drive them away.

“They get in there, come up against this racket and leave,” Everitt said.

But he and spokesman Brian Gorman of the National Marine Fisheries Service cautioned against too-high expectations for this year.

Fish returning this year are “three-year salts” - fish that were in the ocean for three years and that typically return earlier than other steelhead, Gorman said.

“The number of fish coming through at the beginning of the season doesn’t necessarily mean that steelhead returns will be large throughout the season. It’s real iffy,” Gorman said.

He also said the count at the locks is not a good indicator of how many fish will actually make it to spawning grounds in the Cedar River.

Finally, the run needs more than one good year to recover. Everitt said wildlife officials would consider a sportfishing season only if they are persuaded that 1,500 fish would escape to spawn. Those numbers have not been logged for years and likely won’t occur this year either.

The real problem isn’t sea lions, said Will Anderson of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society.

The real problem is the fish ladder at the locks, Anderson said. He contends the ladder is so small that adult fish returning to spawn and ocean-bound juvenile fish can’t find it.

“As far as we’re concerned, no substantive progress has been made,” said Anderson, who served on a federal panel that studied the sea-lion problem at the locks. “The real problem hasn’t gone away. … Sea lion predation is a symptom of fish-passage problems.”

A fake orca, or killer whale, was put in the water near the locks last fall for about a month. The aim of that private effort was to frighten the sea lions. Some orcas eat sea lions.

Everitt said he doubted the “Fake Willy” did any good.

Rudy McCoy, who helped get permission to deploy the counterfeit killer whale, said that while the Fake Willy probably didn’t deserve full credit, “we looked at it as a successful test.”