Kill sea lions to save salmon? - January 21, 2008
US federal officials have recommended killing about 30 ‘nuisance’ sea lions a year near one particular river in Oregon in order to keep them from gobbling up salmon (NOAA). Some of these salmon are endangered; the sea lions are not. The proposal, which hasn’t yet been passed, would see officials try to scare the California sea lions away from the fish first, resorting to lethal methods on problematic animals only after deterrence fails.
There’s a good level of debate in the press as to whether this plan would actually work (Oregonian, with great pictures and graphics; Scripps News, with a good dose of comment from biologists on why the sea lions are targeting salmon, specifically, and how many they might be eating).
Sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but they can still be killed legally under certain circumstances (ABCnews).
Sharon Young, reportedly the lone dissenting member of the panel which made this recommendation, is quoted in much of the press coverage pointing out that killing some sea lions won’t do anything to solve other problems facing the fish – including fishing. "What it's mainly going to do is kill some sea lions out of frustration without dealing with the more serious problems facing the fish," she says (Technocrat).
It all comes full circle: overfishing has previously been blamed for a reduction in the Stellar sea lion population, as a lack of food may have been taking down their numbers. At the time we wrote our feature on this topic in 2005 (see Is this any way to save a species?) there was no proof of how fish numbers affect those sea lions. It seems now there’s no proof of how California sea lions affect fish numbers either.
NewWest is making no bones about its attitude to the news (see Sea Lion Slaughter On The Columbia). On the other end of the spectrum, others remind us that the recommended number for the kill is less than what some of the local states has asked for (FoxNews). Opinion at the Columbian is that the scheme is worth a shot, literally, even if those shots might accidentally hit innocent bystanders (seriously).
NOAA’s Fisheries Service is asking for public comment until 19 February.
Image: California Sea Lion / NOAA
Comments
save the sea lions!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Shell | December 18, 2008 06:41 PM