A bill that allows the lethal removal of sea lions that prey on endangered Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead, (SB 3119), has been signed into law by President Donald Trump.
The bill was a bi-partisan effort by legislatures in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and supported by the Columbia River tribes.
The bill makes changes to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 by instituting a permit process for the lethal take of sea lions. The changes have been sought for years as sea lions have taken up positions at dams and waterfalls and have fed heavily on endangered fish.
For example, it was estimated that Willamette River winter steelhead were at an 89 percent risk of extinction.
The bill will allow the lethal removal of sea lions that have been previously captured and branded by a fishery, have been seen for at least five days on the river, been subjected to hazing, and have been seen eating salmon or steelhead.
U.S. Representative Jaime Herrera Buetler, (R-Battle Ground), was the sponsor of the House version of the bill.
Wildlife league members meeting
The Vancouver Wildlife League’s monthly members meeting will be held on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Region 5 office in Ridgefield. The guest speaker will be Jerod Kirkley of River Junkies.
Raffle tickets will be sold for the two rod and reel combos, a salmon combo and a steelhead combo. The drawing to be held in March.
Bring your old rods and reels to donate to the Rods and Reels for Kids program.
State sets tentative January razor clam digs
WDFW has announced tentative digs through February on three of Washington’s razor clam beaches, beginning with a proposed five day dig starting Jan. 2. Proposed razor clam digs are listed below, along with evening low tides and beaches:
Jan. 2; 4:22 p.m.; 0.2 feet; Twin Harbors
Jan. 3; 5:06 p.m.; -0.2 feet; Twin Harbors
Jan. 4; 5:46 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Jan. 5; 6:23 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Twin Harbors, Copalis
Jan. 6; 6:59 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
The department has yet to schedule dates for clam digs on Long Beach. State shellfish managers are waiting to see the results of the Dec. 22 dig to find out how the population of clams along the peninsula has done in recent months. If the clams are large enough that clam diggers are happy with them, then the department may allow more clamming early in 2019 at Long Beach.
The Long Beach peninsula has been closed to allow the smaller clams time to grow.
Before the dates are finalized shellfish managers will test the clams for toxins to make sure they are safe to eat. For a complete list of proposed digs, please visit WDFW’s recreational razor clam website at https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/razorclams/.
More than 180,000 pikeminnow caught
It was a good year for those angling for northern pikeminnow in the Columbia and Snake rivers. More than 3,000 people registered for the 2018 Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program. Combined, they spent more than 23,000 angler days catching and removing 180,271 of the salmon-eating fish, protecting young salmon and steelhead from predation.
While harvest was down a bit from 2017 due to higher river flows, angler success was better in 2018. Average catch per angler per day in 2018 was 7.52, up from 7.38 in 2017. Anglers were paid about $1.4 million for their efforts. The program, funded by the Bonneville Power Administration, has run annually from May 1 through Sept. 30 for more than 20 years.
Based on this year’s catches, BPA is successfully meeting its annual goal to remove 10-20 percent of the predators. Northern pikeminnow anglers caught and removed about 11.5 percent of fish more than 9 inches long. The larger fish are the portion of the northern pikeminnow population believed to eat the most salmon and steelhead smolts.
Northern pikeminnow are voracious eaters, consuming millions of young salmon and steelhead every year. Since 1990, anglers paid through the program have removed nearly 5 million pikeminnow from the Columbia and Snake rivers.
