basshunter
03-18-2009, 09:47 PM
There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about the depletion of Salmon in some areas. I came across this article detailing how some states have approved the shooting of sea lions in the Columbia River.
Is this really the correct way to handle the problem?
Killing sea lions won't save salmon
by Scott BecksteadThursday March 12, 2009, 10:34 AM
http://blog.oregonlive.com/opinion_impact/2009/03/large_sea.jpgTHE OREGONIANA sea lion with a salmon in the Columbia River.
Oregon, Washington and Idaho have now received permission to start shooting sea lions in the Columbia River. Sea lions, lazing in the sun, scratching their heads with their hand-like back flippers, will now be in the crosshairs. They can be shot at Bonneville Dam, at Astoria or at any other place in the river or along the coast that is not a breeding colony.
The crime that merits this death sentence? Eating fish.
About 25 percent of the spring salmon migrating in the Columbia are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Because salmon are expected to return in record high numbers to the Columbia this spring, up to 13 percent of these ESA-listed fish can die as a result of human anglers - while sea lions will eat less than 4 percent.
Recent government documents acknowledge that predation by sea lions is fairly stable at about 4,000 fish. This is not true for the pressure on fish from fishermen lining the banks and plying the river with their nets. Washington and Oregon allow the percentage of mortality to the listed fish to increase when the run is larger. Rather than capping the kill at a specific, and low, level and allowing more fish to escape to spawn in years with a higher run size, fishermen are allowed to kill more -- up to 17 percent, depending on the size of the run.
If we are to save the fish, we must address the real problems facing the fish, not just address the frustration of fishermen who want the fish for themselves. Salmon recovery is hindered by a number of factors. Foremost is the inability of the fish to successfully navigate their traditional spawning rivers: dams block passage, water is taken from their rivers and pristine habitats are degraded. While they are in the ocean, they are caught in commercial fisheries. As they spawn in the spring, fishermen await them.
A government biological assessment lists the top two factors limiting recovery as poor survival of the out-migrating juvenile salmon and fish hatchery practices. Neither of these is addressed by killing sea lions, whose predation was among the least of the factors considered in the government's assessment.
It may be frustrating for anglers to watch a sea lion catch a salmon for which they were fishing. But sea lions and salmon have been in a natural cycle for decades. Salmon and other fish migrate in runs as a strategy for "swamping" their predators to assure that enough get through to survive. However, the fish can't adapt to survive the impediments that humans put in their path.
Soon the quiet of the Columbia may be disturbed by the sound of gunshots. Soon a walk along its banks may reveal a dead or injured sea lion. Killing sea lions will not save the salmon from further decline, it will just kill sea lions.
Is this really the correct way to handle the problem?
Killing sea lions won't save salmon
by Scott BecksteadThursday March 12, 2009, 10:34 AM
http://blog.oregonlive.com/opinion_impact/2009/03/large_sea.jpgTHE OREGONIANA sea lion with a salmon in the Columbia River.
Oregon, Washington and Idaho have now received permission to start shooting sea lions in the Columbia River. Sea lions, lazing in the sun, scratching their heads with their hand-like back flippers, will now be in the crosshairs. They can be shot at Bonneville Dam, at Astoria or at any other place in the river or along the coast that is not a breeding colony.
The crime that merits this death sentence? Eating fish.
About 25 percent of the spring salmon migrating in the Columbia are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Because salmon are expected to return in record high numbers to the Columbia this spring, up to 13 percent of these ESA-listed fish can die as a result of human anglers - while sea lions will eat less than 4 percent.
Recent government documents acknowledge that predation by sea lions is fairly stable at about 4,000 fish. This is not true for the pressure on fish from fishermen lining the banks and plying the river with their nets. Washington and Oregon allow the percentage of mortality to the listed fish to increase when the run is larger. Rather than capping the kill at a specific, and low, level and allowing more fish to escape to spawn in years with a higher run size, fishermen are allowed to kill more -- up to 17 percent, depending on the size of the run.
If we are to save the fish, we must address the real problems facing the fish, not just address the frustration of fishermen who want the fish for themselves. Salmon recovery is hindered by a number of factors. Foremost is the inability of the fish to successfully navigate their traditional spawning rivers: dams block passage, water is taken from their rivers and pristine habitats are degraded. While they are in the ocean, they are caught in commercial fisheries. As they spawn in the spring, fishermen await them.
A government biological assessment lists the top two factors limiting recovery as poor survival of the out-migrating juvenile salmon and fish hatchery practices. Neither of these is addressed by killing sea lions, whose predation was among the least of the factors considered in the government's assessment.
It may be frustrating for anglers to watch a sea lion catch a salmon for which they were fishing. But sea lions and salmon have been in a natural cycle for decades. Salmon and other fish migrate in runs as a strategy for "swamping" their predators to assure that enough get through to survive. However, the fish can't adapt to survive the impediments that humans put in their path.
Soon the quiet of the Columbia may be disturbed by the sound of gunshots. Soon a walk along its banks may reveal a dead or injured sea lion. Killing sea lions will not save the salmon from further decline, it will just kill sea lions.