Photos: Sea lions, seals stack up at Columbia mouth

FISHING — Looks like seals and sea lions got word that huge runs of salmon are headed for the Columbia River this spring and summer.

Fishermen will have strict quotas on how many salmon they can catch before the seasons are closed to protect the endangered stocks of wild salmon mixed into the returns.

Marine mammals do not have quotas.

Mass congregations such as this did not occur before dams were built on the Columbia to stack up the returning salmon in the lower river, experts say.

Numbers to consider:

• 312,600 spring chinook are to migrate into the Columbia River in a run that’s already begun.
• More than 6,000 harbor seals and 1,600 sea lions including some larger stellar sea lions that can weigh up to 2,500 pounds are congregated at the Lower Columbia’s mouth near Astoria clear up to the Portland area.

According to aerial surveys, these hungry seals and sea lions begin arriving around January to pick off salmon and a large smelt return, and have become such a problem that state Fish and Wildlife officials are trying to figure out how to deal with these voracious animals.