Activists Will Confront Wildlife Agencies At Bonneville Dam Over Death Of Five More Sea Lions

Cascade Locks, Ore. – Angered over Washington and Oregon state wildlife agencies killing five more sea lions at the Bonneville Dam yesterday, In Defense of Animals (IDA), Sea Lion Defense Brigade, and Animal Defense League will send representatives to the dam today to confront wildlife agencies and demand answers to pointed questions. The activists challenge the the efficacy and ethics of the misguided program to allegedly protect endangered salmon by targeting California sea lions for lethal removal. The government agencies can kill sea lions who return after being observed eating only one fish below the dam.

What:    Delegation of three watchdog organizations confront wildlife officials
When:   March 10, 2010, 12:00 noon
Where:  Bonneville Dam, Oregon side visitor center (off I 84, 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon)

“Ironically, the fishing quota has been raised every year since this sea lion killing program was introduced – from nine percent in 2007, to 12 percent in 2008, to 13 percent in 2009 to 16 percent this year,” says Julie Farris of the Sea Lion Defense Brigade. “The sea lions are only having a marginal impact, observed at the dam eating only a few of the spring Chinook run. If government agencies were using sound science, they wouldn’t be spending millions of dollars killing these intelligent and sociable creatures, they would cap fishing quotas and allow those extra fish to spawn to help the species recover.”

Rick Hargrave, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) spokesperson, reported that seven sea lions were trapped yesterday morning, five of whom he identified as “C417, C926, B194, B258,and B267“ – sea lions listed on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) kill authority letter. The two animals with a “C”  in their number are sea lions identified by a number burned across their backs, after having been previously trapped and branded in the Columbia River. However, the three “B” animals have only been identified by so-called physical characteristics, and are not branded. According to Hargrave, these five were scheduled to be killed by the end of yesterday.

“We remain highly skeptical these agencies can correctly identify individual sea lions as required by law,” said IDA’s Matt Rossell, who’s organization was a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against ODFW on behalf of a sea lion named “Willy” or “C657.” IDA is appealing the case, maintaining Willy was misidentified and removed from the river last year without proper authority based on government records submitted with the suit. “It is ridiculous to believe the Army Corps’ claim that they can individually identify over 250 unbranded sea lions when they rely on seasonally hired student observers, standing on shore or on the dam, to recognize physical characteristics of sea lions from far away in the river as they surface momentarily with a fish in their mouth and then disappear under water seconds later.”

These pinnipeds are otherwise protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, except for this five-year special exemption approved by NOAA through Section 120 of the Act that allows for killing individual sea lions if they are proven to be causing a “significant impact” on endangered species. That questionable impact has been the subject of a federal lawsuit currently under appeal in the 9th circuit court, and the program has been swimming in controversy since the inception, with multiple incidents of malfunctioning traps, and seven sea lions who have died unintentionally in state custody only adding to the growing public criticism.

“The sea lion killing program is a failure, and should be ended immediately,” according to Justin Kay of the Portland Animal Defense League. “Regardless of size of the salmon run, or the number of sea lions they remove from the river, the sea lions eat roughly the same number of fish each year below the dam – a tiny fraction – this year’s estimate is about one percent of the overall run. Sea lions are being scapegoated, and killing them is not going to resolve the real issues facing salmon recovery – over-fishing, dams, introduced non-native fish, and habitat destruction.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 10, 2010

Contacts: Matt Rossell, In Defense of Animals (IDA), 503-890-5151 matt@idausa.org; Julie Farris, Sea Lion Defense Brigade, 971-344-2862