Hazing of Bonneville Sea Lions Begins

A sea lion takes a chinook salmon below the Bonneville Dam fish ladder on the Washington side of the Columbia River in this 2005 photo.

The hazing of the sea lions has commenced in earnest.

For the third straight year, Washington and Oregon fishery managers have taken to the water with cracker shells, rubber buckshot and underwater firecrackers in the Columbia River downriver from Bonneville Dam.

Fish-munching sea lions have become an increasing nuisance as they congregate at the first dam encountered by adult salmon returning to spawn in the Columbia and its tributaries. Between 80 and 100 sea lions have devoured roughly 3 percent of the salmon arriving below Bonneville in recent years, according to estimates by the Army Corps of Engineers.

State officials have applied to the National Marine Fisheries Service for permission to kill nuisance sea lions, but that’s not likely to occur until next year, if at all.

“As in previous years, our goal is to change these animals’ behavior,” said Jeff Koenings, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Predation by sea lions on fish in the tailrace of Bonneville Dam is a fairly recent phenomenon, and we don’t want any more of them to learn that behavior. We want them to recognize that this is not a good place to find an easy meal.”

Workers aboard boats, from Bonneville six miles downriver, will haze the animals seven days a week through the end of May. Hazing actually began on the first of February to specifically target sea lions feasting on sturgeon.

First online This was first posted at 8:23 p.m. Friday at www.columbian.com .

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