The National Marine Fisheries Service recently authorized the killing of up to 85 federally protected sea lions this year at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon.
Federal and state officials claim they have to kill sea lions to protect endangered salmon. But sea lions are not the main threat to endangered salmon on the Columbia river - dams, habitat loss and humans are.
Consider the facts:
- Sea lions kill between 0.4% and 4.2% of salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia River each year;
- Federal dams on the Snake River kill over 15% of returning steelhead and salmon adults each year;
- Oregon and Washington states, which requested permission to kill sea lions, proposed increasing fishing quotas from 9% to 12% of the 2008 salmon run.
A federal judge is set to rule on this plan on May 8th, and until then no sea lions may be killed. Yet
six federally protected sea lions were just found shot to death on the Columbia River at Bonneville Dam. Make sure no more sea lions die - tell NMFS to abandon its plan to allow killing of sea lions on the Columbia River!
Learn more from the Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and Save Our Wild Salmon.To Ms. Donna Darm,
Assistant Regional Administrator,
Protected Resources Division, NMFS
I just learned that six federally protected sea lions were found killed on the Columbia River even though a federal judge issued a stay of execution for sea lions with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. I urge you to immediately repeal your agency's approval of a plan to kill up to 85 sea lions this year at Bonneville Dam.
Sea lions are not the primary cause of salmon decline in the Columbia River and Pacific Northwest. In fact, sea lions kill 4.2% or less of returning salmon and steelhead each year. Dams along the Columbia and Snake Rivers kill over 15% of returning adult salmon and steelhead, and the incidental take allowance is currently 9%.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act Section 120 allows NMFS to grant permission to states to kill individually identifiable sea lions and seals that are having a "significant negative impact" on endangered salmon. Yet your agency's plan to increase the 2008 fishing quota from 9% to 12% will have a far greater negative impact on returning salmon and steelhead than current sea lion predation.
I strongly urge you to reverse your agency's decision to allow sea lions to be killed under the guise of protecting salmon. Please focus your agency's time and energy on addressing the real threats to our endangered salmon, which are dams, habitat loss and human activity.
