Culling of sea lions at Bonneville Dam challenged
PORTLAND – The Humane Society of the United States wants a federal judge to head off the capturing or killing of the salmon-eating sea lions at Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River.
The group says in a motion filed in U.S. District Court that without court intervention agents could begin taking the sea lions as soon as next weekend.
It asked Friday for a permanent injunction and said it likely would seek a temporary restraining order to be effective before Friday if the injunction request is denied.
In January, at the request of Oregon and Washington and with support from Idaho, the National Marine Fisheries Service authorized the taking of up to 85 sea lions a year for five years, although it recommended a lower number.
The order encourages capturing the animals if possible and finding homes for them in aquariums and ocean theme parks but said they can be euthanized after 48 hours if no homes are found.
The Humane Society says homes could be found for only a few and contends that sea lions aren’t nearly the threat to salmon that dams, birds and environmental damage pose and simply are a politically convenient target for persons worried about the spring chinook salmon run.
It said a much larger-than-normal run is predicted this year and that the quota for fishermen has been raised by 33 percent.
California sea lions are protected under the 1972 Marine Mammals Protection Act, which has an amendment allowing the “lethal taking” of some animals at the request of states under certain conditions.
The government estimates the sea lions, which congregate each spring at the base of Bonneville Dam to eat migrating spring chinook salmon, devour up to 4.2 percent of the run and have a “measurable” and “growing” effect on salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The Humane Society, joined by the Wild Fish Conservancy, contends the amendment to the 1972 law allows only the taking of individual and identifiable animals that can be shown to be harming the salmon run, but that the order from NMFS would justify killing any sea lion known to be eating fish.
The NMFS authorization has strong support from Columbia River Indian tribes and from commercial and sport fishing interests.
They contend the federal government spends millions of dollars to protect salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin.
The sea lions, males, begin arriving at the dam beginning in about February to fatten up for their trip south to breeding grounds and usually are gone by early June. Their numbers have increased gradually in recent years.
The amendment to the 1972 act has been invoked only once before, in the 1990s, when sea lions ravaged a steelhead run at the Ballard Locks in Puget Sound. The run has never fully recovered.
Five of the worst offenders were marked for extermination but three were taken in by a marine theme park. The fate of the other two has not been disclosed.