Report Proposes Killing Marine Mammals To Protect Salmon Runs

Even if California sea lions and Pacific harbor seals are only part of the problem, killing the most voracious marine mammals is a necessary step in protecting dwindling West Coast salmon runs, a draft report by federal fisheries officials says.

The 17-page National Marine Fisheries Service report, sent to Congress Thursday, says seals and sea lions are known to eat the fish, especially at areas of restricted passage such as the Ballard locks in Seattle.

This may prevent or delay the salmon’s recovery, the report says.

“One of the recommendations we’re making is we believe that under very specific situations, federal and state wildlife managers ought to be able to kill seals and sea lions that are actually eating endangered fish or fish that are about to be listed,” said Brian Gorman, spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.

Congress will weigh the report in considering next year whether to reauthorize the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which protects California sea lions and Pacific harbor seals from harassment or killing.

The report also asks that commercial fishermen again be allowed to kill sea lions and seals as a last resort to protect their catch or gear. That authority was removed when the Marine Mammal Protection Act was amended in 1994.

The report says that act conflicts with the Endangered Species Act, which state fisheries officials have tried to use to preserve wild fish runs. Several coastal runs of salmon and steelhead are listed for protection, or are expected to be petitioned for listing, under the Endangered Species Act.

Harbor seals, California sea lions and other marine mammals such as whales and porpoises have been protected since the early 1970s, when the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed. Their numbers have grown dramatically.

The draft report to Congress is based on a larger scientific report, also produced by the national fisheries service, that estimated the number of California sea lions on the West Coast by the mid-1990s at 161,000, and the number of harbor seals at 76,000. These populations are growing at an annual rate of about 5 percent and are consuming roughly 217,000 metric tons of fish and shellfish every year, the science report says.

Killing of the mammals would be restricted under the proposal to identified animals in areas where they are known to kill fish, such as salmon and steelhead at fish ladders at the Ballard Locks in Seattle and at Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Ore.

The draft report says there is a “pressing need” for research on ways to drive away sea lions and seals without harming them.

Washington state has had authority for two years to kill the worst sea lion predators at the Ballard locks.