ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has petitioned the federal government to delist the eastern population of Steller sea lions as threatened.
The state also will challenge a federal biological opinion that concludes commercial take of groundfish is inhibiting recovery of sea lions in the western population, which stretches to the Aleutian Islands.
The eastern area includes Alaska coastline northwest of Yakutat, and includes Alaska’s Panhandle, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell says recovery objectives for Steller sea lions set by the National Marine Fisheries Services in the east have been met.
Parnell says the federal assessment in the west does not consider economic damage that will be inflicted by additional commercial fishing limits.
