Fish-Eating Sea Lions May Be Euthanized

State wildlife officers declared Wednesday they may kill sea lions that feast on wild steelhead at Seattle’s Ballard locks this season.

No federal or state money is available this year to house captured sea lions, said state Fish and Wildlife Director Bob Turner, so the department could be forced to kill some problem animals.

“We find ourselves in a no-win situation,” Turner said. “Obviously, we don’t want to euthanize sea lions, nor do we think it’s the solution.”

In a news release, Turner said the animals would be killed humanely but did not discuss the method.

Turner added he considers the strategy a short-term remedy designed to ensure enough steelhead can move past the locks to spawn in sufficient numbers.

Somewhere between 200 and 300 fish must make it through the fish ladder at the locks annually if the run is to survive. Last year, about 126 fish got through and another 11 were killed by sea lions, which gather below the locks and eat the fish.

The Lake Washington steelhead population has declined severely in recent years. In the mid-1980s, an average of 1,600 steelhead swam through the fish ladder and into the Lake Washington watershed to spawn.

State wildlife officials have tried - and failed - to stop the sea lions with various methods, including firecrackers, underwater noises, and trapping the animals and releasing them in California.

Last January, biologists captured a 966-pound California sea lion - nicknamed Hondo, who was a prime steelhead predator. He was detained until the run was over, then released off the Strait of Juan de Fuca among a group of sea lions migrating back to California. Last week, he was seen with some of his fishing mates swimming around Shilshole Bay near the Ballard locks.

One method not yet used: a 16-foot fiberglass killer whale known as “Fake Willy.”

A Seattle rock radio station, KISW-FM, and its listeners raised $3,000 to purchase the whale from fish farmer Charles Marsham of Scotland, where it was used to keep seals away from fish farms.

The radio station has stored the whale and is working to enlist industry professionals to support its plan. A spokesman for a research group linked to KISW-FM said the scarecrow whale could be successful but the National Marine Fisheries Service refuses to consider it.