1. Comment by Dee Little - April 28, 2008 @ 04:58 PM This sounds like a best-outcome for all involved. Hopefully, the sea lions won't be as much of a problem now.
2. Comment by g kortes - April 28, 2008 @ 05:54 PM Oh goody, we're saving the salmon crisis. Watch for all west coast sites to restore fishing. Problem solved.
3. Comment by tom carpenter - April 29, 2008 @ 09:40 AM This is no way to save salmon. No offense to those who can't see through the hype, but sea lions are clearly not the culprit here. To be sure, they eat salmon (along with pikeminnow and lamprey, which also kill salmon, so it's a wash). But they do not eat as many salmon as we do. Nor do they come anywhere near killing as many salmon as the dams do. WE are causing the salmon crisis. Scapegoating sea lions for this is only compounding the problem, because it makes us believe we can solve this problem without changing our own behavior and footprint in the world. We cannot. Sea lions have always been on the Columbia river. They belong here. The salmon thrived, even before humans killed off most of the sea lions over the past 150 years. Even when there were many more sea lions on the Columbia than there are now, there were tens of millions of salmon out there. Now, there are fewer than 1 percent of the original numbers of salmon. It's not the sea lions that are new to the region, it's not the sea lions whose presence corresponds exactly with the decline of the salmon. It's us. We must face this if we really want to save the salmon.
4. Comment by Katie Kelly - April 29, 2008 @ 08:55 PM Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses) All marine mammals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA); some marine mammals may be designated as "depleted" under the MMPA. Endangered and threatened marine mammals are further protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Status of Marine Mammals The table below includes marine mammals that have been designated as depleted under the MMPA, including, by default, ESA-listed marine mammals. For non-depleted marine mammals managed under the MMPA, please refer to the second list below.* http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- One of seven sea lions trapped at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River and sent to the Port Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash., has died while undergoing medical inspection before transfer to a Sea World park, the Humane Society of the United States said Tuesday. http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_042908_animal_trapped_sea_lion.b1de442e.html But a rash of salmon illnesses have led companies to use high levels of antibiotics, some of which are prohibited for use on animals in the United States. Nonetheless, many of those salmon still end up in American grocery stores. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/How-Fish-Farming-is-Killing-Salmon-59105.aspx Sea lice from salmon farms killing wild salmon, study finds By JEFF BARNARD AP http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003286031_websalmon02.html http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/01/370987.shtml Oregon’s Gill-Net FisherySeven Reasons to Eliminate Lower Columbia River Gill-Netting A. Reason #1: Gill-nets Kill Native Fish… B. Reason #2: Gill-nets Kill Upriver Spring Chinook.. C. Reason #3: Gill-nets Kill Summer Chinook.. D. Reason #4: Gill-nets Kill Winter and Summer Steelhead.. E. Reason #5: Gill-nets Kill Sturgeon… F. Reason #6: Gill-nets Fail to Harvest Surplus Shad… G. Reason #7: Gill-nets Diminis
5. Comment by Katie Kelly - April 29, 2008 @ 08:58 PM G. Reason #7: Gill-nets Diminish the Quality of Oregon’s Sport Fishery… http://gillnetskill.blogspot.com/2008/01/below-ive-posted-excerpt-from-thesis.html http://www.oregontruthalliance.org/files/CuttingOregonsNetLosses.pdf On July 1st, Edwards Dam in Maine was finally blown up. A large section of the Kennebec River was instantly restored to its natural flow, after more than a century of abuse. This dam, destroyed specifically to save dwindling fish runs, was neither the first -- nor will it be the last -- of the ageing big dams that dot the landscape everywhere that must be modified or demolished to protect fish. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt has announced, "The era of dam building is over." And we say, "Its about time!" Commercial salmon fishermen have been fighting a rear guard action against dam building since at least the 1930's. Throughout the west, many proposed dams were either never built, or were substantially modified, to protect irreplaceable fish runs as a direct result of the outcry of fishermen. There would be no fish hatcheries at all, for instance, had it not been for salmon fishermen demanding them as compensation for lost habitat. http://www.pcffa.org/fn-aug99.htm
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