U.S. House and Senate approve appropriations bill, which includes funds for lethal removal of pinnipeds on Columbia
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To the editor: The good efforts by the Yakama Tribe to help protect salmon and steelhead runs from predation by sea lions, I really appreciate. However, until sea lions that are killing salmon and steelhead are killed and not just hazed, the problem of decimated runs of these fish will probably get a lot worse.
A peculiar war is being waged on the Columbia River as tribes seek to keep sea lions from decimating salmon runs, and the sea mammals refuse to give up the all-you-can-eat buffet.
A peculiar war is being waged on the Columbia River as tribes seek to keep sea lions from decimating salmon runs, and the sea mammals refuse to give up the all-you-can-eat buffet. Three days a week, Bobby Begay and his two-man crew — Reggie Sergeant and Ted Walsey Jr. — from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission board a boat at the North Bonneville dock to mount an offensive against predatory sea lions.
The 700-pound sea lion blinked in the sun, sniffed the sea air and then lazily shifted to the edge of the truck bed and plopped onto the beach below.
NEWPORT — The 700-pound sea lion blinked in the sun, sniffed the sea air and then lazily shifted to the edge of the truck bed and plopped onto the beach below. Freed from the cage that carried him to the ocean, the massive marine mammal shuffled into the surf, looked left, looked right and then began swimming north as a collective groan went up from wildlife officials who watched from the shore. After two days spent trapping and relocating the animal designated #U253, he was headed back to where he started — an Oregon river 130 miles from the Pacific Ocean that's become an all-you-can-eat fish buffet for hungry sea lions.
SALEM (AP) — Steelhead fish in Santiam and Willamette rivers in northwestern Oregon have hit low levels not seen in over 40 years, fisheries managers said.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Some Northwest Indian tribes would be allowed to kill a limited number of sea lions that prey on endangered salmon in the Columbia River under a bill introduced in Congress.
“Ray,” a 1,300-pound male California sea lion, was a well-known fixture at The Dalles Marina, where he took up residence on a tenant’s dock in 2011. For years, he was a highly visible member of the river community, hauling himself out on a marina dock each day and feasting on salmon migrating through the river.
