Task force recommends killing more sea lions at Bonneville Dam to .

Task force recommends killing more sea lions at Bonneville Dam to protect endangered speciesPublished: Wednesday, November 10, 2010,8:28 PMUpdated: Wednesday, November 10, 2010,8:34 PM

Scott Learn, The Oregonian Follow

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View full sizeMichael Lloyd, The OregonianLeslie Hemstreet (left) and her 4-year-old daughter, Felix, protested Wednesday outside the DoubleTree Lloyd Center Hotel, where a labor force was reviewing a plan to defeat California sea lions at Bonneville Dam. The protest, organized by In Defence of Animals, drew two-dozen people. "The conclusion to concentrate on sea lions seems political and not focused on good biology," said Matt Rossell,the group's Northwest director.

Oregon and Capital should kill more California sea lions atBonneville Dam next year to try whether the states' 3-year-oldcontroversial "lethal-take" program can really meet its goal ofreducing sea lion consumption of wild salmon, a key task force concludedWednesday. The states should take the animals, from land and from boats, insteadof just trapping them in cages and killing them by lethal injection, 15of 16 members of the Pinniped Fishery Interaction Task Force said. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,which oversees the lethal-take program, should take it far easier forCalifornia sea lions to stipulate for the lethal-take list, a majority ofthe task force said. The two states have killed or removed 40 California sea lions since2008, counting four that accidentally died in traps that year. But theanimals' estimated expenditure of salmon clustered near fish ladders atthe Columbia River's first dam - also known as the "Bonneville buffet"- grew from 3,846 in spring 2007 to a show of 5,095 in spring 2010,the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports. Those numbers include wild salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act. A bulk of the labor force said killing more California sea lionscould improve results, with one referring to the stairs so far as "halfmeasures." When the program began, wildlife managers expected to removeat least 30 of the animals a year (federal biologists capped the take at85 a year). Instead, removals have averaged just more than 15 a year,focusing on the sea lions shown to be feeding the most salmon. Dennis Richey, a labor force member and executive director of Oregon Anglers,said shooting the sea lions in the urine and as they haul out near thedam would be lots more efficient than trapping the animals in riverbankcages and kill them by injection in a class room. In the long run,he said, shooting would reduce the number of animals killed.

Sea lions at Bonneville Dam

1937: President Franklin Roosevelt dedicates the first federal dam on the Columbia and Snake river system.

1972: Marine Mammal Protection Act bars killing sea lions and other marine mammals. Until the later 1960s, Oregon had a premium on sea lions.

1990: Steller sea lions on the West Coast listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

1991: First Columbia River salmon run listed under the ESA (13 runs now listed).

1994: Amended law allows killing mammals not ESA-listed if they significantly impact threatened or endangered salmon or steelhead.

2000: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered to address sea lions eating salmon at Bonneville.

2002: Sea lion monitoring begins.

2006: Gates with bars installed to prevent sea lions out of fish ladders. Oregon, Washington and Idaho apply to the union authorities to kill certain California sea lions. Fishery managers haze sea lions with shotgun-fired firecrackers and rubber bullets.

2007: Pinniped task force recommends killing California sea lions seen eating salmon at the dam. Federal officials approve lethal take of up to 85 a year. Report says California sea lions have recovered from approximately 1,000 in the 1930s to about 238,000, the population's "carrying capacity."

2008: Six California sea lions trapped, relocated to Sea World; one dies under anesthetic and four (along with two Steller sea lions) die from heat exhaustion after being stuck in traps, stopping the programme for the year.

2009: 11 California sea lions killed and four relocated to a Chicago aquarium and a Texas zoo.

2010: 14 California sea lions killed. Typically, sea lions lead to multiply by the end of May, shortly before the spring chinook run ends.

-- Scott Learn

"We think that sea lions are incredibly bright," Richey said. "If they saw that this is a dangerous place, they would leave. But if we humanely remove them, the adjacent most dominant animal just moves into that area." The lethal-take program, requested by Oregon, Washington and Idaho, is the initiative in the country to kill sea lions to save threatened or endangered salmon and steelhead since Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. The Columbia is base to a multibillion-dollar salmon restoration effort. The labor force includes representatives of government agencies involved in the lethal-take program and fishing interests. Sharon Young, the Humane Society's marine issues field director, was the sole member to voting against shooting sea lions and the only one to voting in favour of closing the lethal-take program. "The program isn't going to run because (the river) is an open system," said Young, whose administration has sued to point the killings. "You get out animals, more come in. It's not making a difference. It's not helping fish." NOAA has allowed the states to hit sea lions, but the states haven't done that. It's not clear if that's because of restrictions placed on shooting near the dam or the states' want to obviate the negative publicity - complete with videotape - sure to adopt a shooting. Activist groups are stationed around-the-clock at Bonneville during the spring season, when male sea lions have the 140-mile swim up the river to dine at the dam. As the rules stand today, to be put on the lethal-take list, a California sea lion has to be seen eating salmon at the dam between Jan. 1 and May 31, be identified at the dam for 5 years and be shown to pass after it's subjected to nonlethal hazing. Steller sea lions also eat salmon near the dam, but they're listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and can't be killed. A labor force majority recommended several options for putting more California sea lions on the lethal-take list. Gathering the most support: an alternative that would allow killing any California sea lion seen nigh the dam during spring migration. It's unclear whether a proviso that broad could go a potential legal challenge. The lethal take is allowed under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but simply of individual animals shown harming listed fish. The recommendation goes next to NOAA, which will determine whether to contain it into new rules for the states or prevent the status quo. - Scott Learn