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Portland, Oregon
- Leaders of the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission's member tribes today
expressed strong support for a federal recommendation to authorize
limited lethal removal of California sea lions whose impact on endangered
Columbia River salmon has reached crisis levels. The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service (NOAA), in a draft
Environmental Assessment (EA) released today, recommends approval
of a three-state application seeking lethal removal authority. Tribal,
State and Federal fisheries managers have documented an exploding
population of California Sea Lions coast-wide and a growing sub-population
that has become adept at exploiting endangered salmon seeking to enter
the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam.
"Today NOAA took an important step toward giving fisheries
managers a critically needed tool to protect the salmon," said
Fidelia Andy, chairwoman of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission. "Lack of action toward the real and immediate threat
of sea lion predation is unacceptable. We don't want another Ballard
Locks-like debacle. We refuse to allow Columbia River Spring Chinook
to be driven into extinction as the Lake Washington steelhead were
in the 1990's."
The states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho submitted their application
to NOAA fisheries in late 2006 seeking additional authority under
§120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The states' request
came at the urging of the Commission's member tribes and after the
multi-year, intensive, hazing effort by state and tribal crews demonstrated
little success.
The tri-state application required a convening of a Pinniped Fisheries
Interaction Task Force, that consisted of a diverse group of eighteen
parties including tribal, federal & state representatives, NGO's,
and independent scientists.
The overwhelming majority of the task force's members supported
the states' request for lethal take of California sea lions at Bonneville
Dam and proposed two lethal take scenarios.
"Salmon has always been the lifeblood to our tribal culture,"
said Andy. "Our tribes have, and always will be here to fight
for their survival. We remain committed to working with the state
and federal management agencies, scientists, and NGO's to adequately
address the significant negative impact that sea lions are having
on migrating salmon at Bonneville Dam."
In the early 1970's, California sea lion population numbered only
around 50,000 animals. NOAA now estimates the sea lions population
of over 300,000 animals and approaching carrying capacity.
Sea lion caused mortalities have grown exponentially since 2001
based upon visible observations at Bonneville dam by US Army Corps
of Engineers biologists. State and tribal managers estimate the
lower Columbia River sea lion population to be approaching 2,000
animals.
The public has an opportunity to comment on the federal recommendation
until February 19th. NOAA's draft assessment is available, in its
entirety, on their website: www.nmfs.noaa.gov.
The agency plans to release its final decision on the issue in late
March.
For more information on sea lion predation at Bonneville Dam visit
the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Commission's sea lion page here.
This provides a fact sheet, links to video of predation, hazing
activity, as well as photos of sea lion damage done to migrating
salmon.
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About CRITFC
The Portland-based Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is
the technical support and coordinating agency for fishery management
policies of the Columbia River Basin's four treaty tribes: the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes
and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe.
CRITFC, formed in 1977, employs biologists, other scientists, public
information specialists, policy analysts and administrators who work
in fisheries research and analyses, advocacy, planning and coordination,
harvest control and law enforcement. |
