Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fresno City Gets Extension in Herndon 4-Story Apartment Case

2 days ago

With Major Heat Risk Forecast, This Is a Good Weekend to Stay Indoors in Fresno

2 days ago

Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Deal for US to Take 10% Equity Stake

2 days ago

Epstein Associate Maxwell Says She Never Saw Trump Behave Inappropriately

2 days ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

2 days ago

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

2 days ago

FBI Agents Search Ex-Trump Adviser Bolton’s Home, Source Says

2 days ago

Gaza City Officially in Famine, With Hunger Spreading, Says Global Hunger Monitor

2 days ago

Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Plan Is on Its Way to Voters. What You Need to Know

3 days ago
Senate Sides With Imperiled Salmon Over Sea Lions
By admin
Published 7 years ago on
December 8, 2018

Share

SEATTLE — A bill that would make it easier to kill sea lions that feast on imperiled salmon in the Columbia River has cleared the U.S. Senate.
State wildlife managers say rebounding numbers of sea lions are eating more salmon than ever and their appetites are undermining billions of dollars of investments to restore endangered fish runs.

“As endangered salmon face extinction, we must take steps to protect them.” — Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
Senate Bill 3119, which passed Thursday by unanimous consent, would streamline the process for Washington, Idaho, Oregon and several Pacific Northwest Native American tribes to capture and euthanize potentially hundreds of sea lions found in the river east of Portland, Oregon.
Sen. Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican who co-sponsored the bill with senators from all three states, said the legislation would help ensure healthy populations of salmon for years to come.
“As endangered salmon face extinction, we must take steps to protect them,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, said in a statement.

House Passed Similar Bill in June

The Senate bill is similar to one passed by the U.S. House in June and sponsored by Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican, Kurt Schrader, an Oregon Democrat, and others.
The House will have to consider the Senate’s bill, or vice versa, before it heads to President Donald Trump for consideration. “We have reason to believe they will by the end of the year,” said Kaylin Minton, communications director for Risch.
Supporters, including the governors of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, fishing groups and tribes, say the bill will give wildlife managers greater flexibility in controlling California sea lions that dramatically increased from about 30,000 in the 1960s to about 300,000 under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Critics Say Bill Won’t Help Salmon

Critics called it ill-conceived and say it won’t solve the problem of declining salmon, which also face other problems such as habitat loss and dams.
“This bill changes the core protective nature of the Marine Mammal Protection Act by allowing for the indiscriminate killing of sea lions throughout the Columbia River and its tributaries,” Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for Animal Welfare Institute, said in a statement.
Washington, Idaho and Oregon wildlife managers currently have federal authorization to kill problem sea lions that eat salmon in the Columbia River near Bonneville Dam east of Portland.

Several Native American tribes, including the Yakama Nation, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes, also would be granted authority to manage sea lions.
But they must first go through a lengthy process to identify and document specific sea lions that cause problems, including observing them eating a salmon and using non-lethal hazing measures on them.
Both the House and Senate bills would remove those requirements, so states and several Native American tribes could get a federal permit to remove any sea lion east of the Interstate 205 bridge that connects Vancouver with Portland, as well as in tributaries of the Columbia River where there are federally protected fish.
Several Native American tribes, including the Yakama Nation, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes, also would be granted authority to manage sea lions.
Under both bills, the total number of sea lions removed cannot exceed 10 percent of a specified level, called the potential biological removal. For California sea lions, for example, that limit would be no more than 920 animals.

Orca Task Force Backs Legislation

Nate Pamplin, policy director of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the actual number of animals removed would be much lower because there aren’t that many eligible to be removed.
While there are several thousand California sea lions in the Columbia River estuary, only about 200 to 300 swim more than 100 miles upriver from the Pacific Ocean and would be eligible for removal, state wildlife officials say.
An orca task force convened by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also backed the legislation to boost the fish for the struggling population of southern resident killer whales.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Fatally Shoot Man Armed With Knives After Standoff

DON'T MISS

Why Epstein’s Furious Grip on Washington Holds

DON'T MISS

US Envoy Meets Netanyahu on Lebanon and Syria, Israeli Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Gerry Spence, Renowned for Courtroom Victories and Unique Style, Dead at 96

DON'T MISS

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

DON'T MISS

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

DON'T MISS

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

DON'T MISS

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

DON'T MISS

Howard University President to Step Down This Month

DON'T MISS

Hollywood’s Biggest AI Debut? Las Vegas Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’

UP NEXT

Hegseth Authorizes Troops in DC to Carry Weapons

UP NEXT

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

UP NEXT

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Released, May Be Detained Again

UP NEXT

Judge Blocks Trump From Withholding Funds From Los Angeles, Other Sanctuary Cities

UP NEXT

California Cities Lack Unified Response On Homeless Encampments

UP NEXT

Trump Crime Crackdown Deploys Troops in Washington’s Safest Sites

UP NEXT

California Voters Still Support High-Speed Rail, Even If It Never Gets Done

UP NEXT

Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Deal for US to Take 10% Equity Stake

UP NEXT

Texas Senate Debates Redistricting Bill, Is Expected to Pass It Easily

UP NEXT

Trump: DC Mayor Bowser Must Get Act Together or Won’t Be Mayor Anymore

Gerry Spence, Renowned for Courtroom Victories and Unique Style, Dead at 96

10 hours ago

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

10 hours ago

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

10 hours ago

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

10 hours ago

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

10 hours ago

Howard University President to Step Down This Month

11 hours ago

Hollywood’s Biggest AI Debut? Las Vegas Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’

11 hours ago

Fresno State Bulldogs Can’t Find Answer for Daniels in Loss at Kansas

23 hours ago

Hegseth Authorizes Troops in DC to Carry Weapons

1 day ago

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

1 day ago

Fresno Police Fatally Shoot Man Armed With Knives After Standoff

Fresno police officers fatally shot a 35-year-old man armed with knives Saturday afternoon after a standoff at an apartment complex, authori...

4 hours ago

Fresno police fatally shot Joseph Merical, 35, on Saturday, August 23, 2025, after a standoff at a west Fresno apartment complex. (Fresno PD)
4 hours ago

Fresno Police Fatally Shoot Man Armed With Knives After Standoff

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
10 hours ago

Why Epstein’s Furious Grip on Washington Holds

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack attends an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon July 22, 2025. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

US Envoy Meets Netanyahu on Lebanon and Syria, Israeli Officials Say

Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos arrives at court with lawyer Gerry Spence. June 28, 1990. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

Gerry Spence, Renowned for Courtroom Victories and Unique Style, Dead at 96

The Pentagon building is seen in Arlington, Virginia, U.S, April 6, 2023. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in the 'Nationwide March for Palestine' protest in Sydney, Australia, August 24, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
10 hours ago

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Sknyliv on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine August 21, 2025. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

Smoke billows from the site of Israeli air strikes in Sanaa, Yemen August 24, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
10 hours ago

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend