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Richard Clement / Reuters, file
Sea lions rest inside an open cage on the Columbia River at the Bonneville Dam in North Bonneville, Wash., in April 2008.
Oregon state authorities can resume killing California sea lions that feast on endangered salmon bottled up at a dam on the Columbia River, but fewer than one-third as many as federal biologists previously had authorized, a judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., on Thursday denied the Humane Society of the United States' request to stop the killing at the Bonneville Dam while a lawsuit challenging the program goes forward. But he limited the killing to 30 animals a year instead of the 92 authorized by federal authorities, and ordered that none of them may be shot.
"Obviously we are very disappointed that this program was not halted," said Sharon Young, marine issues field director of the Humane Society. "But, we are grateful that the court put some restraints on it."
It was the group's third attempt to permanently halt the killings since they started in 2008.
The floating traps are out and if any of the 92 California sea lions branded as regular salmon eaters are seen inside them, the gates will be sprung, and the animals killed by lethal injection, said Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Jessica Sall. She said they have no plans to shoot any animals. California sea lions that hang around the dams eating salmon, and refuse to leave despite hazing by rubber bullets and firecrackers, go on a kill list.
Adult salmon and steelhead returning to spawn get bottled up at the fish ladders over Bonneville, located east of Portland, Ore. California sea lions, which are federally protected as marine mammals, but not as threatened or endangered species, swim about 145 miles upriver to the dam to feed on the fish in the spring.
Since 2008, 28 sea lions have been killed and 10 placed in institutions under similar salmon-protection programs overseen by the Fisheries Service.
The limits imposed by the judge should not pose a problem, Sall said. The department did not anticipate killing more than 30 animals in any one year. Over the past four years, only 41 have been trapped and killed or sent to a zoo or aquarium. The current authorization from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service is good for four years.
The Humane Society lawsuit contends that the Fisheries Service erred when it decided that sea lions eating up to 4.2 percent of the fish passing over the dam amounted to a significant obstacle to the restoration of endangered salmon, when fishermen are allowed to take up to 17 percent. It adds that killing sea lions will have no effect on restoring salmon, which face a greater threat from fishermen and predation by walleye and bass introduced into the river for sport fishermen to catch.
The department, a co-defendant in the case, counters that while sea lions kill some protected salmon, fishermen are only allowed to kill hatchery-bred fish. The department says it is able to estimate how many wild fish die after being released, and to shut down the season if necessary.
Salmon returns to the Columbia Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana have declined steadily from harm caused by dams, logging, agriculture and urban development since settlement of the region began in the 1840s. Only a small percentage of the fish are wild, with the great majority produced in hatcheries. There are 14 different types of wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin protected by the Endangered Species Act.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Judges being bougt.
I would pay the judge anything he wants to rid the rivers of these invasive pests. Thery are called SEA lions...NOT river lions...way to go judge...lets kill em' all!!
areyoubuying this-----no-not buying this---very short sighted comment. sea lions adapt as most creatures do and catch fish where the opportunity presents itself. we are now trying to supply the world with ''sea food''. while humans can adjust their diets sea lions can't. their natural food is fish. the demand for exotic fish is exhausting the oceans many fish species. maybe we should start destroying the fish predators as there are too many of us (humans)-killing sea lions will not solve this problem. it's much more complex than a few sea lions trying to survive mans greed.
As long as the judge is stopping things that are directly affecting the endangered salmon, the judge might as well order the dismantling the Bonneville Dam, the root cause of this problem.
Can I shoot smokers? In the long run they are kiiling me?
Can we shoot the humans that overfished the areas and forced the sealions into the rivers?
Can we shoot the polluters that taught the animals to go near humans to find food?
Why can't they think of something else, like tours that feed the lions and teach them to depend on another area to get their food.
The state bird of Utah is the California Seagull?
Are you serious Daryl?
Forget this issue, that just sounds pathetic.
AreYouBuyingThis? has an 'elevator that just cannot reach the top floor'.
If we can kill sea lions for doing something they have no control over than we can kill humans for doing the same, knowing the effects of their actions. Humans are also a threat to marine life. People caught fishing illegally should be killed and their boats torched as well. It's only fair
Here's a thought get rid of the damn dam! No pun intended and problem solved. How much power does it really generate? Probably far less than anybody could imagine and at a far less cost effective price for the measly amount of power it actually does generate. Hydroelectric dams all over the country have continuously proved to be completely inefficient and certainly not efficient enough to warrant completely upsetting an entire eco system to the point of now killing sea lions to save the salmon they put in harms way by building the friggin thing in the first place!!
How did the Humane Society NOT win this case, hands down?
Actually Daryl - The seagulls are there because of the salt lakes.
As with any other animal that has taken to bad habits, you have to remove them and stop them from teaching that behavior to others.
It is no different than bears that get accustomed to raiding coolers, tents and household trash. Once they learn the behavior, they won't unlearn it.
We had skunks under the house. No matter what we did, they always returned. (We tried excluding them by using hardware cloth and even cement to hold that down.) Of course they learned that it was a good place to be.
So all the offspring and adults would always dig their way back there.
The only solution was to kill the skunks. But just killing one of them wouldn't do it. Once we killed all of them, no other skunks ever knew that it was a good place to go - and none have ever gone back there.
So they will kill 30 a year forever the way they are doing it. The more humane way is to kill all the sea lions that go there, then if one or two randomly show up, kill those. If people want to donate money to relocate them instead - hey, that's OK too. (But you will have to move them thousands of miles).
After ten years (30 per year) you have killed 300. If you kill them all, then you probably kill 125 up front, then maybe a couple a year - resulting in half that number. And imagine how many you actually save over 20, 30 , 50 years.
These are predatory animals - they live by killing other animals. So we can't say killing them isn't equally fair.
How do you kill a sea gull? Hide an Alka-Seltzer tablet pieces in a bread ball and throw it to them. They can't regurgitate it before they blow up like a ballon.
Where are they serving the Sea Lion Stew?
Wakeupkarl....I can tell by your juvenile comments that you're a real winner and asset to the human race. Seriously, stop embarrassing yourself-it's hard to watch.
Hunt, I don't know where you get your opinion from on the effectiveness of hydroelectric dams but you really should do some reading.
Dam's throughout the US and the world were built initially for flood control and have served that purpose well. The secondary benefit that came with the dam was "free" renewable energy. Free being that the dam was built for flood control and does that, the power generation is almost a give away.
Bonneville Dam was built in 1933 and is currently outputting 1 million kilowatts of power; enough to provide for a half a million homes a year. Hydroelectric dams produce the cheapest electricity in the world and it is renewable and its impact on "nature" is the least invasive of all means of power generation.
I'm so damn tired of listening to environmentalists that haven't got a clue. In case you haven't been able to figure it out, man is part of nature also.
The sea lions are nothing but a pain. I'm glad to see them go..
If you have netflix, watch : the end of the line.
THE CRISIS OF CIVILIZATION : Full Movie
Wow MSN, this is one of your worst ones yet. The article headline to draw you in on the homepage reads: "Judge OKs killing sea lions"
Then upon reading the article, you find out this was actually legal to begin with, within a certain number, that said judge LOWERED. So in essence, he put forth a motion to have LESS animals killed than would have been already. ("But he limited the killing to 30 animals a year instead of the 92 authorized by federal authorities, and ordered that none of them may be shot.")
I KNOW, I know... Don't bother throwing the "it shouldn't happen anyway!!" argument at me here, i'm just pointing out how horribly misled MSN will run you. Really not that much worse yellow journalism than Fox at this point. Very shameful newscasting.
Oh, and not to mention after clicking the "READMEREADME!" link, the next headline for it reads "Judge clears way for killing of salmon-gulping sea lions" Oh really? He pioneered this whole operation eh? He didn't "clear the way" for anything, in fact, a much more deadly-to-sealions law was in place beforehand. Bah.
Ryan- "bad habits" as in survival skills? I personally don't think that animals adapting to what humans have done can be considered bad habits...
And let me point out more specifically, this article starts you out wanting to think this Judge is some kind of animal killing freak right? States that "the judge" is causing all this in the headlines... yet what do we have here?
So, show of hands, who was fooled into thinking the judge was the bad guy and completely missed the fact that it was federal law that OK'd this whole thing to begin with?
So now people are able to "hunt" the ulips and roses??? or their "owners"??? [Think of it as a poxy for a "Stand Your Ground" for the Deer....]
daryl - Look, I'm not saying to kill sea lions willy nilly. But if they are causing a problem for an endangered species - plus they are in a place they don't need to be, were not historically there, and as others mentioned, it's not natural for a sea lion to be that far up a fresh water river.
I'm sure that it started with one sea lion, maybe two. Had they killed those two, then they wouldn't have to kill but the one, two or less that naturally would randomly end up at the dam. There is a possibility that if they killed the first one, it might be a decade or longer to kill the second one.
So that actually saves so many more than this plan.
I'm not out killing skunks. I stopped the ones that knew about going under the house. Then there are no more doing it. I'm sure a skunk or two has walked right by the house in the last week. They simply didn't know to dig to get under it. They pose no problem, so they are left alone. Just like the sea lions wouldn't know to go up the river. Sea lions don't just go up rivers that much. They can catch the fish at the mouth of the river. They simply found a way to do it easier - yeah I'm calling them lazy.
I simply present a better way than this judgement - one that ultimately saves more sea lions while maximizing the number of endangered salmon surviving.
It is clearly obvious that the sea lions are at the dam because the fish get trapped there. I don't accept for one second that only some of the sea lions there are eating the endangered fish. They are not up a fresh water river because they like the view of the dam.
Bill from Oregon, you comment is spot on.
These know-nothing rabid environmentalists want to tear down three million killowatts of renewable hydoelectric power generating capability, that would effectively turn the lights out in cities of the northwestern USA.
I bet if you were to ask kbrown where chickens come from she'll say the supermarket!... lol. Probably doesn't know there are farmers that produce a world of food for everyone and what a monumental task that is. NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kill the sea lions and feed the meat to our school children and teach them the circle of life ! PETA , people eating tasty animals !!!!
Wild Salmon is one of the healthiest foods humans can eat. This is war! Kill the sea lions! Run their asses back to the sea! Leave the salmons alone. We humans need 'em. I love to eat 'em, and I do not wish to share with no damn sea lion, or any other animal!
Wakeupkarl....not really sure where you drew that conclusion from. I am actually well aware, probably more than most. (as in I buy my meat and produce from a local farm) You enjoy throwing comments out that rile people up, you need attention so you sit behind your computer type some idiotic sentences and wait for people to comment. I feel sorry for you. Find something more constructive to do with your 'talents'. ok?
Oooooooooooooo... ain't you special! I bet they are free range, are Democrats and belong to labor unions... lol.
Hunt-797031
Good Grief
Thirty humans will be killed to save the salmon from urban development, logging and agriculture practices. Sea lions can continue to do as nature made them.
Love it; man alters the natural flow of the river and migration path of the salmon; man tries to offset with fish ladders that are not sufficient to handle the volume of salmon returning to spawn; sea lions naturally eat salmon and man creates an 'easy picking' situation for the natural predator of salmon; man decides to kill the sea lions who are acting out of natural instinct in their natural habitat rather than making the fish ladders more accessible to the volume of fish each year. Better yet remove the dam and find a better energy resource that does not interfere with the natural flow of nature.
The arrogance of man that we think we can control nature.
I'll give a little more credence to your last sentence when I read about sea lions executing humans.
Several years ago, it wasn't a problem, now it is. Not only are they killing the salmon, but also the sturgons. It is a big problem. I wonder how a fillet of sea lion would taste?
The U.S.D.A. has decided about a decade ago that farm-raised salmon is best for the majority of us. In fact, this is the majority of salmon now sold.
So what is the reason for killling the sealions?
As a NW resident I have to say that our hydroelectric power plants are much better for our environment than any of the alternatives, sea lions notwithstanding. I'm sympathetic towards the Humane Society's cause, but not to the point where I would tear down our dams and put up coal plants or nukes.
There are some cases for removing dams (like on the Elwha), but in my opinion the impact of generating the replacement power should be considered. Relocate the seals. If/when they return then euthanize them. This policy worked at the Ballard locks, and I think it would at the Bonneville too.
The mentality that will ravage an environment, suck back whatever resources that can be grabbed, then kill any predators that are left to compete! Control is an illusion. How much can we control? We are trying to control the fish, their predators, the water, the animals, the farmers, the fishermen, the waste products, the weather, we just keep on making messes and thinking all we need to do (in place of Nature) is to control the thing. This rubber band is about to snap back, baby.
Perhaps they should string a large mesh steel net across the area that lets the fish through but not the Sea Lions.
AMEN Pocket!
The last paragraph in this article says that salmon populations have been in steady decline because of dams.
That is an utterly false statement so typical of the media.
Chinook salmon runs on the Columbia River in 1938 were 271,000 fish. There were only a few dams on the river at that time. Through the 1950s, the numbers were consistently around 350,000 with the occasional year exceeding 400,000. Most of the Columbia River dams were built in the 1950s. The numbers since then stayed the same through 1977. In 1978, the annual run dropped to 104,000 fish. Coincidentally, there was a very bad drought in 1976, when the juveniles would have been growing in the tributaries. The number rebounded to 276,000 fish in 1979.
Today's numbers are much bigger. 2011 had 863,301 Chinooks. 2010 had 902,439. 2009 was 699,121 Chinook. Declining???? The facts say otherwise!!
In other words, the reporters could not resist introducing some environmental mythology into their story. In my opinion, it detroys their credibility.
There is no free lunch when it comes to energy. The trade-off we've made in the NW to have hydropower is a good bargain. It isn't without cost, but it's an environmental win compared to other energy sources. See my comments on salmon returns, which really have NOT declined on the Columbia.
Man is good for only two things, reproduction and destruction!
That's right, I nominate you to kill yourself in order to reduce the surplus population.
I would prefer you disrtoy yourself before you reproduce....
Dear Fishermen: I love salmon. However, I will now buy only Atlantic salmon. Or I won't buy salmon at all. I have a lot of choice when it comes to what I eat. Sea lions don't. It's time we learned to share this planet. We aren't the only species...we just act like it.
Your understanding of the underlying ecological issues in this case would appear to be sorely lacking.
Yum, nothing like eating a spoonful of mercury with that seafood, enjoy!!
I've eaten both types of salmon and prefer the Atlantic. I'd rather the sea lions live I like them better than people.
Farm raised Atlantic salmon has its problems. The pellets that they feed these fish comes from offshore factory trawler catcher ships that pull huge nets over 4 acres. They trawl for krill to make the pellets. Krill is the world largest biomass and what might be called the start of the marine food chain. These huge factory ships work 24/7. All this takes place in international waters with no way to controll the volume the catch. Its a real danger if they overfish this and cause horried effects in the food chain.
So all you pro farm fish people just keep eating your Atlantic salmon and keep telling yourself how good it is for the environment. I happen to know this because years ago I worked myself in this off-shore trawl industry. Today I own a commercial salmon fishing boat in Alaska and we harvest fish in perhaps the best mannaged fishey in the world, we do this to make sure it last for our children and their children. Its healthy, clean and with little environmental impact
Actually, your best bet if you're really concerned about environmental issues is to go with Alaskan wild caught. That's true for health as well. Alot of the farmed salmon can actually cause its own set of problems, all the fisheries in the Atlantic are in a sorry state, and farmed raised salmon doesn't have the same nutritional benefits as wild.
There is no comparison between a fresh Copper River salmon and an Atlantic farmed salmon, at least to those who can tell the difference.
I have the answer to the problem! Stop buying Salmon products. If the industry dies the Sea Lions don't. I'll limit my seafood to watching "Spoungbob & Squarepants". Ha. You beat me to it Robbie!
Another possible solution: eat more sea lions.
They were eaten and the fur used and carcass is used for omega 3 oils, on the east coast, however the hunt is all but banned, the market is finished. It was a pretty gruesome affair and was much protested. Sad to say, we will probably end up with a cull and any use derived from the animal will have been wasted. The current quota for seal harvesting is 400,000 but the market will only support a 10th of that.
The best solution is for humans to stop reproducing. We all should do our part and use birth control, 6 billion people on this planet is 5 billion too many based on our standard of living.
So?, what?... We have your mother to blame???... lol.
What,
Did you not hear, six months ago the human population passed 7 billion and is still growing by 70 million per year. Now if we could just figure out a way to make this earth larger and replenish more of the natural resources like copper, iron, coal and oil we could grow our population a few billion more.
WAKEUPKARLMARX!!!!!!!
what you say about m-m-my mo'ma????
30 humans can be killed to save all the endangered species
the sad thing is that the salmon are on the list,cause of man!!!and now the lion seal is in our cross-hairs.one of our many fine ways we treat our fellow animals.man will be judge in the end.the funny thing is...that there is so much salmon at store and restaurants that is thrown away,cause it has not eaten!!they kill to survive,but we kill in mass-waiste!!
Disgusting, why is the only solution always to kill? No animals are as cruel as humans.
In the sixties, when we were going down the river out to the sea to fish for salmon, I remember Sea Lions were shot at from multiple boats with hunting rifles. They belong in the SEA, not a hundred miles inland up a fresh water river. The demarcation between fresh and salt water did then, and still seems logical. Oregon salmon are in decline but these environs can't make the mental leap that these things are causing massive damage to the salmon population. I wonder what Sea Lion tastes like?
I can't believe killing sea lions for few salmon filets is justifiable. (and I love salmon) So tired of this greed and inhumanity, it never ends! you can't tell me that people will starve if these sea lions eat the salmon-not like they can go and graze in a pasture or stop at the supermarket and pick themselves up a nice frozen sack-a-tilapia. IT'S NOT OK.
They are also killing sturgons. Do some research about that fish, then you might realize that it's not just salmon. But the papers back east don't tell the whole truth all the time. I'm sure Murdoch's faux noise will tell it correctly.
The KIND of fish is NOT the point. I don't have to do research to come to the conclusion that this is all about human greed. Killing something that is only doing what it has to do to survive, ridiculous.
Self-loathing Environmental groups never consider humans as an animal deserving anything. Every animal has rights except humans.
Humans have caused the problem, dams that do allow the salmon to get to the bredding grounds. Humans had destroyed so many species of animal over our greed.
I can't afford salmon to eat. The price per lb is out of my budget, guess it is for the 1%'ers
This nutjob would have us go back to living in caves and spending all our lives all day long foraging for nuts and berries. You obviously have NO idea the economic vitality and the standard of living only dreamed about in other countries that these dams have brought to the region. But then again you obviously prefer living on berries and nuts. You don't use ANY electrical appliances or have ANY use for wood products or have anything shipped by cargo containers.
wakeupkarlmarx----there is a half way mark here. we don't have to go back to hunting fruits and nuts but i have enjoyed just such excursions. current research indicates dams are harmful to fish reproduction. eventually even hoover dam will fall----bet you won't like dams and all that they provide if you live down steam when it fails. won't happen-- most likely ---in our lifetime but it will fail eventually. or think terror attack---sweeet dreams---wonder what karl marx would think of our short sighted dams.
Well... according to his Manifesto... he hated EVERYTHING AMERICA STOOD FOR. But he would be proud of the guy "occupying" the White House today.
So we build a dam to screw the fish migration and then kill the sea lions that are eating the fish that we screwed up.
Why kill the sea lion? They are only doing what sea lions do. Why not shut down the fisherman for a couple of years? That would be a better solution. I could do without eating salmon for a couple of years, if that was all it took to bring them back! The fisherman can go out to sea, or do something else for a couple of years. Why must we always kill one species to protect an other species? This has never made sense. By the way, what happened to selection of species? The strong over the weak, etc, etc.???
what you don't realize is that there are a limited number of days when fisherman are allowed to fish. And the Native American tribes get their allotment first. The runs are down to just about nothing, and it's not the fisherman doing the damage, it's the sea lions. Up here we do extensive monitoring of the runs and the salmon aren't in the oceans and aren't making it to the rivers to span. I don't like killing the sea lions, but it has to be done.
Evolution has ceased.
The sea lions are likely migrating in order to stay alive. They found a readily available food supply and are being killed to protect endangered salmon?
So if you can't shoot the sea lions how are they going to be killed? Let me guess...poisoning the fish they eat.
Why are all of you people not realizing that several yrs ago, there were no sea lions at the dam. Also, it's just not salmon they are killing. Unless you live around here, you really don't know what is going on.
What do Sea Lions taste like ? Anything like Manatee ?
How totally ignorant!
That judge should be exiled on a deserted island to rot.
People, we'll never have peace on planet earth as long as we keep toruring and killing animals.
So humans build a damn to exploit the water, but animals are forbidden from exploiting the dam? How is this at all fair?
If you were eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a park bench, and a squirrel grabbed it and ran away with it, what would you do? Bring two the next time?
I would eat indoors, stupid question.
Stupid answer.
Can we eat the Sea Lions they kill? That would be delicious...
You dont want to eat one that has had a lethal injection, yeesh.
Makes it kinds stupid to spend According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the cost for the drugs used in lethal injection is $86.08 instead of a few bucks for a bullet that does the same job. But... what the hell, the taxpayers just pick up the tab no matter.
"Since 2008, 28 sea lions have been killed and 10 placed in institutions..."
Institutions? Meaning what? Orphanages, mental hospitals, reform schools, prisons, community colleges?
LOL institutions for sea lions? You mean like Sea World? Umm thats not an institution. LOL
Actually they are being trained by the OH!MAMA administration as Community Organizers.
Finally... some common sense prevails.
After reading many of your replies to other peoples comments - you using the words "common sense" is an oxymoron.
Lol... as opposed to what?... a megamoron like you? NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!
AreYouBuyingThis? you say sea lions are pests, obviously you have no idea what a sea lion is, heres a hint: researching what they are on the web is easy.
This is just plain wrong.