Last month it was mealtime on the Lower Columbia. We could hear the excited barking of sea lions across the city of Longview, where I live, as they hauled themselves onto the rocks near the mouth of the Cowlitz and waited for dinner to arrive. Now the smelt have passed and Herschel and his friends are quiet. We expect them back as the adult Chinook salmon begin to return to their spawning grounds. I do hope some of the fish manage to escape.
At a time when salmon survival has become such a concern that we are talking about tearing down dams to improve their chances, fast-rising predation from sea lions has become an environmental emergency. Protected by federal law and with no real predators to worry about, the sea lion population off our coast has quadrupled over the last 50 years. Today they swarm the Lower Columbia and its tributaries from January to March, when the smelt are making their way downriver. Last year the sea lions were so aggressive that they swam 70 miles up the Cowlitz River to meet them, farther than ever before. The National Marine Fisheries Service conducted a study to estimate survival rates of returning spring Chinook on the Columbia River downriver of Bonneville Dam. One year it estimated losses due to sea lion predation at 20 percent; another it was a whopping 45%.
Nearly half? There’s nothing natural about losses at this level. If we want our fish runs to survive, we are going to have to step up our efforts to control sea lions – and we can’t be squeamish about it.
For the last five years, the states of Washington and Oregon have been operating under a federal permit allowing us to capture and euthanize sea lions on portions of the Lower Columbia and its tributaries. Working closely with treaty tribes at Bonneville Dam, Washington and Oregon wildlife agencies have removed 98 Steller sea lions and 84 California sea lions. The state of Oregon also has been active at Willamette Falls, removing three Steller and 14 California sea lions.
This intervention has helped improve salmon survival rates, and indirectly has aided the struggling southern resident orca population on Puget Sound, by boosting the Chinook runs on which they feed for part of the year.
Yet this is only about a quarter of the full program envisioned under the federal permit. For the last two years I have worked to get the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife the resources to carry this effort to the Lewis and Cowlitz rivers and other Lower Columbia tributaries. This year I sought a $300,000 appropriation in the capital budget for the special barges, traps and cages required on these shallower waterways. Unfortunately, I could not convince my fellow lawmakers of the urgency, and this will be another year of missed opportunity and unnatural losses.
I don’t think it’s the money. Things may be tight this year, but in government terms, $300,000 is a pittance. Bonneville Power Administration customers alone are spending ten times that amount annually on salmon recovery. All told, the public has spent billions on hatcheries, habitat restoration, fish passage, culvert removal, scientific studies and more. This is an investment worth protecting.
The problem likely is a distaste for lethal intervention. We have learned through difficult experience over the last 35 years that this is the only way. We need to get over the idea that sea lions are cute, cuddly things and see them for the eating machines they are. Each one consumes about 40 pounds of fish daily, and they are so good at their job that even a handful of them can have a major impact on fish survival rates.
I keep thinking about the tragedy we saw at the Ballard Locks 30 years ago. This was our first real encounter with our gluttonous friends as their numbers began to rebound under federal protection. First came a sea lion the tourists nicknamed Herschel, gulping Lake Washington steelhead whole. Then his friends joined him and turned the locks into an all-you-can-eat buffet. Non-lethal deterrents proved futile. Relocation efforts couldn’t keep them away. By the time federal and state officials got their act together and reached consensus that lethal measures were justified, the steelhead were extinct.
As we consider our next moves on the Columbia, we must remember this is the consequence of inaction, and tell ourselves never again. The time for debate is over and the time to protect our salmon resource is here.
Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, represents the 19th Legislative District.
