U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, this week joined a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing concerning sea lion predation in the Pacific Northwest.
Gluesenkamp Perez is not a permanent member of the committee but participated given the need to remove California and Steller sea lions in the Columbia River and its tributaries, a recent news release from Gluesenkamp Perez’s office stated.
Salmon and steelhead in Washington and Oregon currently face a severe threat of predation by California and Steller sea lions.
With current removal options failing to keep the pinniped population in check, Gluesenkamp Perez engaged the witnesses on the viability of expanding direct-kill strategies and expanding take permit partnerships.
“When Congress amended the Marine Mammal Protection Act to expand lethal removal authorities, it provided that eligible managers along the Columbia River could remove up to 450 California Sea Lions and 176 Steller Sea Lions during the five-year life of the take permit. We haven’t even seen them come close to reaching these levels,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
“Ask yourself, why? Why are these numbers so small? The arduous process of removal is a key feature … the cost and the onerous back and forth of trapping the creature, identifying its threat, shaking a can of pennies at it, retrapping and then finally darting, contribute heavily. We’ve done some back of the envelope math to try and determine the cost to remove sea lions under the permit. From our estimates, it costs over $38,000 per removal from the Columbia River. That’s roughly $203 per salmon saved in state and taxpayer federal dollars.”
A full video of Gluesenkamp Perez’s questions can be found at https://tinyurl.com/22tfnjcs.
