IDA Protests Plan to Kill California Sea Lions on the Columbia River

Valentine's Day demo in Portland brings heart to compassionate campaign

In our February 13th eNews, we reported that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had proposed a plan to allow Washington and Oregon to kill as many as 85 California sea lions each year at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, ostensibly to prevent the disappearance of wild salmon from the region. Because this proposal would do nothing to actually save the salmon and completely ignores the real threats to salmon survival, we asked our readers to submit comments to the NMFS opposing the killing of sea lions. We would like to thank everyone who answered this call to action.

Meanwhile, Northwest IDA got the word out on the streets of downtown Portland, Oregon, with a Valentine's Day outreach event to save the sea lions. IDA campaigners Matt Rossell and Connie Durkee, along with a group of seven volunteers, handed out more than 500 valentines in red envelopes that encouraged recipients to contact the NMFS and insist they cancel the lethal plan. Activists enjoyed some fruitful interaction with concerned Portlanders, garnering many commitments to contact the government agency, while several radio and television stations covering the story got the message out to many more.

Rossell also submitted a letter to the NMFS on behalf of IDA objecting to the killing of sea lions, citing Section 120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which states that agencies engaged in the lethal control of this protected species must prove the damage to salmon recovery is of a "a significant negative impact." Yet even the NMFS admits that sea lions are only taking between 2 and 4 percent of the spring runs, and estimates that the dam itself is responsible for an adult salmon mortality as high as 16 percent. The agency also allows fishermen to "harvest" up to 17 percent of the salmon runs.  

"Scapegoating and killing sea lions will not remedy the real threat to endangered salmon -- habitat loss and survival of juvenile fish," said Rossell. "Frustrations from years of stagnant salmon recovery should not be taken out on protected marine mammals who have been sustainably foraging fish in the region for millennia."

We now await the NMFS's announcement regarding whether they will proceed with the killing. IDA will continue to galvanize public opposition to the sea lion kill.