CA Seals and Sealions eating all of WA Springers?

[Matt B]

A number of people eat sea lions. It is quite tasty and nutritious too from what I have been told. Therefore, they are food.

Time for Washington state to establish a hunting season on sea lions just like there is for deer and bear season?

Tastiness is subjective, but as to how nourishing it would be to eat one of those things, I think I read in the permit linked in this thread that people were advised to wear PPE when handling the carcasses since they are full of toxins from all the bioaccumulation! "Safe to Eat" a teeny tiny square per month, yummy!

 

[Greg Armstrong]

Wow!!!;

b) Like other marine mammals, sea lions are susceptible to a variety of environmental contaminants that bioaccumulate upward through marine food webs to high-level predators. These substances include organochlorines (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane and its derivatives, various other pesticides and herbicides), polybrominated diphenyl ethers, heavy metals (e.g., mercury, copper, selenium, zinc), and may have harmful zoonotic organisms, all of which may have negative health consequences if not handled with appropriate protective gear. Thus, to reduce these risks, we recommend that the Eligible Entities use protective gear to reduce the risk of contamination when handling dead marine mammals. The Eligible Entities iv shall ensure that the disposal of carcasses, tissues, organs, or parts is in accordance with applicable laws.

 

[Matt B]

we need to figure out how to get our salmon back from the ocean, until then kill the sea lions.

This might get lost in this thread but I'll put it here anyway. Look at this cool research to figure out what is going on with salmon in the North Pacific in winter:

The 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition

The largest ever pan-Pacific expedition to study the winter ecology of salmon in the North Pacific Ocean

storymaps.arcgis.com

 

[nwbobber]

So they are hazardous waste? Maybe we can get superfund money to remove them.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

A number of people eat sea lions. It is quite tasty and nutritious too from what I have been told. Therefore, they are food.

Time for Washington state to establish a hunting season on sea lions just like there is for deer and bear season?

There are very few that actually enjoy it in my experiences. I personally found that seals and sea lions taste like old batteries and dirt rolled through Alaskan fish fertilizer. Again there are a few that enjoy it but it's been my experience with native folks that have eaten or eat them that they are the chum salmon of pinniped meats by their description. I would personally rather eat a plate of chum or "silverbrite" as whole foods likes to call them.

 

[Dave M]

Pre-Colonization Seals and Sea Lions did forage pretty far upriver in the Columbia right? I found this paper that says they were common all the way to Celilo Falls where they gathered in large concentrations. I would assume that the federal/state regulator's justification for not just doing lethal removal is that this isn't a new behavior spurred by the dam placement they are just resuming what they were doing before. Is there any possibility that the seals carrying capacity will be limited by something other than food like competition for space, disease, etc. and the population at Bonneville will max out? Like I'm imagining if managers could just go okay Bonneville dam/lower Columbia River as a whole supports around x number of seals which take around x number of fish, then factor that into broader calculations for allowable take, just like every other natural factor that affects salmon populations and is factored into fisheries forecasts. That seems a lot less silly than just killing/removing them when there are always going to be more to replace the ones we take away. Especially since this doesn't seem like a very uncommon behavior where we could just get rid of the bad apples and be good for a while, given that seals forage pretty far upriver on most coastal streams with a salmon presence.

The problem is before the damn dams were around there were millions of salmonids going up the Columbia. Now there are not.
Lucky to reach 100k these days.

 

[Dave M]

Wait, what? Do they hitch a ride through the lock? It'd be something else to see one in the window at the fish ladder.


ok, so hear me out. We have netters we want to retire from netting salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon. They could use those nets to trap sea lions and drag their asses back to the ocean. Or turn them loose on the terns on Sand Island. It's a win/win/win.

Don't forget the cormorants!

 

[Yard Sale]

So at this point I think we can all agree that culling is appropriate. Its just a matter of how many to kill.

 

[Matt Paluch]

So at this point I think we can all agree that culling is appropriate. Its just a matter of how many to kill.

NMFS decides those numbers, as is required under the amendment to the MMPA passed by Congress in 2018. They actually set the limits higher than many of us were expecting.

 

[The Coho King]

Many Sealions spotted today Kalama up to Madrow. 100 Seals in Cowlitz near Kelso, and seals all the way to barrier dam. Goodbye Springers. Is this a overrun by California? Does WDFD even have a clue how to manage this overpopulation (they are experts at harvest!)

Update, more URGENT situation than just overpopulated seals and sealions eating Columbia salmon and smelt. They are in tributaries like Kalama and all the way to barrier dam on Cowlitz. Why? They are feasting on springer smolt releases from the hatcheries! No springers in a couple years might get more attention? Never been seen before and will be long term damage to the fisheries.

 

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

This picture was taken a few days ago at the Barrier Dam on the Cowlitz.

 

[The Coho King]

This picture was taken a few days ago at the Barrier Dam on the Cowlitz. View attachment 62643

Everyone take a day off from trout fishing and show up to the river with a few 3/4 oz jigs and tag these critters for killing baby salmon

 

[Flymph]

Everyone take a day off from trout fishing and show up to the river with a few 3/4 oz jigs and tag these critters for killing baby salmon

A belated happy "Earth Day" to you and to all.

 

[The Coho King]

A belated happy "Earth Day" to you and to all.

 

[Matt Paluch]

Update, more URGENT situation than just overpopulated seals and sealions eating Columbia salmon and smelt. They are in tributaries like Kalama and all the way to barrier dam on Cowlitz. Why? They are feasting on springer smolt releases from the hatcheries! No springers in a couple years might get more attention? Never been seen before and will be long term damage to the fisheries.

I've heard the social media rumors that sea lions are feeding on smolt releases, but I haven't seen any evidence. Could you please share that?

 

[Matt Paluch]

Here’s a direct result of social media groups full of people telling each other that we have to take matters into our own hands. This is the kind of thing that hurts the angling community’s ability to advocate for proactive management of nuisance species.

Authorities seeking boater seen harassing sea lions down Columbia River, $20K reward for information

On April 3, a Portland man captured video of a boat with fishing gear weaving back and forth, appearing to try to intentionally hit dozens of sea lions swimming.

www.king5.com

 

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

I've heard the social media rumors that sea lions are feeding on smolt releases, but I haven't seen any evidence. Could you please share that?

What sort of evidence do you require, forensic or circumstantial? If it’s the former, some miscreant would need to kill one and take a stomach sample. If it’s the latter, you could see that only 6 springers have returned to the hatchery, but they are releasing smolts. Seriously, I don’t know, but if the seals feed on the smelt in the Columbia, would they not feed on the smolt at the hatchery pool?

 

[Paige]

Chinook smolts range between 3"-5", how much energy would a Sealion use to feed on something so small?
Maybe @Smalma or @Salmo_g can elaborate if Sealions would feed on Chinook smolts.

 

[Matt Paluch]

What sort of evidence do you require, forensic or circumstantial? If it’s the former, some miscreant would need to kill one and take a stomach sample. If it’s the latter, you could see that only 6 springers have returned to the hatchery, but they are releasing smolts. Seriously, I don’t know, but if the seals feed on the smelt in the Columbia, would they not feed on the smolt at the hatchery pool?

So I just remembered that diet analysis is required in the Annual Report for Columbia Basin Management. Here's what the sea lions were eating:

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Chinook smolts range between 3"-5", how much energy would a Sealion use to feed on something so small?
Maybe @Smalma or @Salmo_g can elaborate if Sealions would feed on Chinook smolts.

Outgoing smolt from the Nisqually are heavily predated by pinnipeds. But nobody is talking about that. It's an unpopular and inconvenient fact. There are in fact seals that are specialising in the activity. It's probably a major limiting factor with production on that stream.

These are highly effective and adaptable creatures. They are opportunistic and will exploit any food source and niche available. They aren't stupid.