Columbia and Willamette river salmon and steelhead have faced serious threats from California sea lions that prey on fish waiting to move up the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls.
Since the 1990’s, sea lions have consumed tens of thousands of migrating fish at these two locations, many from threatened and endangered runs protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Wild Willamette steelhead counts are looking to be some of the best seen in three years. ODFW’s biologists are hoping to see this continued improvement.
“We’re excited to see some of the best winter steelhead returns in recent years,” said Dr. Shaun Clements, ODFW senior policy analyst. “We’re encouraged by the fish numbers and by the success in implementing the sea lion removal program. We’ve definitely been able to reduce predation this year and provide some relief to the fish.”
Over 2,400 winter steelhead have crossed Willamette Falls with about 3,200 winter steelhead predicted.
Last year’s return was 1,829 fish, and in 2017 only 822 returned...
ODFW biologists have been monitoring Willamette wild winter steelhead for a number of years and have shown that California sea lions were consuming up to 25 percent of the winter steelhead run. Biologists warned that unless something was done to protect the steelhead from such heavy losses to predation, the fish were in imminent danger of going extinct.
Since mid-December, ODFW has removed and euthanized 13 California sea lions. Many of these animals had been present in the vicinity of Willamette Falls since last August and almost all had been coming to the Falls for a number of years.
“We typically see an increase in sea lion abundance at the Falls in April as additional animals move in to feed on the more abundant spring Chinook,” said Clements. “We always expected it would take 2-3 years to fully manage predation at this site but we’re encouraged by the early results.”
What are your thoughts? Should Sea Lions continue to be removed or should they be allowed to feed at the falls?
30 comments
I am a big protect wildlife person, but thinning out the number of sea lions is a necessary job, although sad it has come to that
Definitely in favor of California sea lion control.
100 % of the California sea lions should be EUTHANIZED at Willamette Falls and Bonneville Dam because they are not natives to these areas and are not natural predators to these areas. The sea lions are a detriment to all the up river fish runs and especially harmful for the recovery of the threatened and endangered species of fish in the Columbia and Willamette .
Sea lions should definitely be removed. The fish are trapped by man made obstacles. We have removed many of the sea lions natural predator so the sea lions have produced without detriment. Their population and location should be monitored and regulated just like any other species. If they are interfering with an endangered population they should be removed. The removal of a few sea lions is not a drop in the bucket to the number of sea lions in the wild.
I have personally witnessed many sea lions steal fish from licenced fishermen that pay a lot of money for the right to catch those fish. It’s not right for the sea lions to be in the rivers. They are sea lions… not river lions. If a sea lion is observed in a river, it should be killed. It doesn’t belong there. Trapping & releasing them out on the coast has NEVER worked