Anyone Want A Pet? Perhaps a Sea Lion?
By Tom Chandler on Mar 21, 2008 in News
From New West:
Oregon wildlife officials are asking zoos, aquariums and theme parks across the country to take in sea lions that will be captured in the Columbia River early next month.
Federal authorities gave Oregon approval this week to remove sea lions that gather at Bonneville Dam’s fish ladder to feed on salmon, the Oregonian reports. The reason, according to the feds, was that many of the salmon are imperiled and protected species.
After a sea lion is captured it has 48 hours to be adopted. If they are not taken in during that time they will then be killed.
For the record, I think a sea lion would make a poor pet for a fly fisherman; you simply couldn’t take them fishing and expect to catch anything.
Of course, whacking sea lions to save salmon is yet another example of just how screwed up things have become; sea lions have always eaten salmon, but now the salmon numbers are unconscionably low, and the fish ladders have further tipped the scales in favor of the predators.
Tags: sealion, salmon, salmon recovery, bonneville dam
kbarton10 | Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
You could collar them like the diving comorants used in Asia. They could pound snot outta salmon, but couldn’t swallow any.
Drive to the river, lower the tailgate, “Spike! Fetch!”
Tom Chandler | Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
See? Yet another member of the Underground Army solves a Thorny World Problem, and asks for nothing in return.
Why don’t the world’s leaders simply come to us first??
Dan | Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
That was a very level headed report on sea lions from a fisherman. The Underground continues to impress!
Bob Thornsen | Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
“Of course, whacking sea lions to save salmon is yet another example of just how screwed up things have become; sea lions have always eaten salmon”
Amen to that. Things have really gone awry when people think that killing a natural predator can save their natural prey species. I love to fish as much as anyone, but even I can see that the problem is dams and, yes, gulp, over-fishing. (Although I think the commercial nets are far more problematic than sport fishermen.)
I confess, I’ve gone salmon fishing a time or two. And I would be more than willing to stop fishing salmon for awhile, to bring the numbers back. Then we need to redesign the dams. Why on earth are we talking about killing sea lions, when they don’t even take half the fish, not even a quarter of the fish, that commercial, sport, and tribal fishermen are taking?
This is bizarre.
Randy Hamann | Mar 21, 2008 | Reply
The best news I’ve herd in years !!!, After “JAWS” and the Great American Great White Hunt the sea lion population has exploded. Man has deeply affected the balance of nature and needs to step up and handle these thorny issues, even if it’s a mammal. Hopefully this program will extend to every estuary on the westcoast, at least until the sea lion population is more in balance with the steelhead and salmon populations.Thanks for the post Tom, you made my day.
Tom Chandler | Mar 22, 2008 | Reply
Randy: Hopefully the salmon populations recover to the point the sea lion contribution to the problem recedes.
It also illustrates the critical role played by predators in an ecosystem, and when those predators are thoughtlessly removed (great whites, etc), bad things happen.
Smellslikefish | Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
I’ve been looking through past issues of Gray’s Sporting Journal to see if A.D. Livingston has any sea lion recipes. Nothing so far. I’ll let you know…