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License to kill sea lions sought by NW lawmakers

06:03 PM PDT on Monday, October 16, 2006

By VINCE PATTON, KGW Staff

Sea lion "C-404" might as well wear a target on his back. The brazen animal who manages to wriggle through barrier gates, feasts on endangered salmon and ignores rubber bullets just to gorge again serves as a poster child for problem sea lions who soon may face not just harassment but death.

KGW photo

Sea lion C-404 has managed to find a way through gates designed to keep him out of the Bonneville Dam area.

Sea lion C-404 has managed to find a way through gates designed to keep him out of the Bonneville Dam area. Four northwest lawmakers have introduced a bill in congress which would fast track the process to obtain permission to kill problem sea lions. California sea lion populations are healthy and increasing. Numbering at least 250,000, they are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It often takes years to obtain permits to kill them as a method of last resort. For the last several years, sea lions have flocked to Bonneville Dam to eat spring chinook as they return up stream. Last spring, spotters counted 72 California sea lions eating 3,023 endangered salmon. The bill, H.R. 6241, is sponsored by a bi-partisan group of four northwest representatives including republican Rep. Doc Hastings and democrats Rep. Brian Baird and Norman Dicks of Washington. Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon is also a co-sponsor. The measure would: - Allow up to 80 California sea lions to be killed in the Columbia River or its tributaries per year. - Be valid for 1 year and all the expedited permit program to run for 3 years. - Only authorize state and tribal officials to kill sea lions. Anglers would not be permitted. The expedited permit process would be exempt from the usual environmental reviews required under N.E.P.A., the National Environmental Policy Act. Baird's office declined to discuss the legislation in light of a news conference planned for October 16. Biologists do not believe the taking of 10 sea lions would affect sea lion populations but would save substantial numbers of endangered salmon. "I think killing them is going to be a good deterrent," says Trey Carskadon, a spokesman for the Northwest Sport Fishing Industry Association. However his group lends only "cautious" support to the bill. Carskadon says the bill should not distract from far more significant man-made factors that kill salmon. "Sea lions are an issue," he says. "But not nearly to the degree that the dams are." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals opposes any lethal control of animals even if it is to save other animals. P.E.T.A. biologist Stephanie Boyles calls the bill "cruel and indefensible." The bill was filed September 28. It is not clear what chance if any it has to pass in the final term of the lame duck Congress.