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Council
Approves Funding For Non-lethal Sea Lion Hazing
Financial help, though
not as much as desired, is on the way for
The Northwest Power and
Conservation Council approved the spending of $75,000 this year to fuel
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission efforts to deter predation
via non-lethal hazing of the marine mammals. The funding recommendation
moved forward on a 7-1 vote with
"This sounds like a
bit of a gift to me," according to Measure, who noted that past
efforts to haze the host of California sea lions that frequent the area
below Bonneville Dam each spring had been unsuccessful.
Washington Councilor
Larry Cassidy said that success in chasing off the predators was perhaps
precluded by a lack of resources. Hazers literally "ran out of
bullets last year," he said.
The goal is to succeed in
reducing the predation or, if not, prove that a strong effort had been
made, said the Nez Perce Tribe's Jamie Pinkham. The ongoing process for
considering the states' request for authority to lethally remove sea
lions places emphasis on trying non-lethal means first, and continuing
hazing even if lethal removal is authorized.
"We need to show
that we are exhausting all of the means out there" for non-lethal
removal, Pinkham told the Council. CRITFC's four member tribes have been
strongly supportive of the lethal removal request made by
That application was
filed in December 2006 with the Commerce Department. It seeks the
authority under Section 120 of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
NOAA Fisheries is expected to decide late next month whether or not to
approve the application.
The states and tribes
during the past two years mounted various levels of hazing in the waters
below the dam. And Bonneville's operators, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, has funded hazing from the dam itself in an attempt to chase
off or otherwise disturb sea lions that prey on the salmon as they
search for fish ladders.
Last year the Council
approved a CRITFC request for nearly $19,000 to assist the co-managers'
hazing efforts. CRITFC also diverted funding from other of its projects
to engage in the hazing, Pinkham said.
This year CRITFC
submitted a "within year" request to the Council for $140,000
to implement a hazing program. The boat-based effort would be carried
out in the area from the dam six miles downstream employing cracker
shells, seal bombs and rubber bullets five days a week six hours a day
for three months.
The same request included
a $163,000 proposal to estimate sea lion predation rates on salmon
downstream of Bonneville's tailwaters with a video system. The system
would be triggered by surface disturbances in certain areas of the
river. Past monitoring efforts have focused almost exclusively on the
area immediately below Bonneville.
The Council, which
normally makes project recommendations after a rigorous review process,
chose not to favor the video pilot project. The new technological
strategy would first need review by the Council's Independent Scientific
Review Panel.
The hope, according to
CRITFC senior scientist Doug Hatch, was "to get a handle on the
bigger picture of what sea lion predation might be." To date, most
of the available data comes from observers atop the dam. Section 120
lethal take authorization hinges in large part on proving whether the
pinnipeds are having a "significant" negative impact on fish
listed under the Endangered Species Act or efforts to recover those
stocks. But little is known about the toll taken by sea lions in the
140-miles below the dam.
Hatch said CRITFC
intended soon to repackage the video monitoring proposal and submit it
to the Council, potentially for an ISRP review.
The Council Feb. 12
during its meeting in
The states of
The Council approved the
expenditure of up to $130,000 this year to build two traps and other
needed equipment. It declined, however, spending on satellite and
acoustic tags and a monitoring system, again stressing the need for
review of the sea lion tracking plan.
The planned trapping of
sea lions is intended to allow researchers to mark more of the pinnipeds
so they can be readily identified visually. The ability serves a variety
of research functions, and would also serve the states if they win
lethal removal authority.
Section 120 specifies
that only "individually identifiable pinnipeds" that are
having a significant impact on salmon can be removed. With marks,
observers can better associate predation to a specific animal.
Oregon Councilor Joan
Dukes urged funding for at least the trap construction.
"They need to be
ready to act," she said, and trapping and marking the pinnipeds
will be useful regardless of whether or not the states gain lethal
removal authority. Options being considered for lethal removal include
trapping and euthanizing the sea lions.
Washington Councilor
Larry Cassidy noted the urgency, but balked at funding the entire
trapping/monitoring request.
"We've go to do
something but we've got to wait for a better plan," he said during
the Council's Fish and Wildlife Committee meeting. State officials hope
to gain authority and trigger the lethal take effort.
"Here we are with
the public expecting action on sea lions," Cassidy said.
"We've got to get it done now. We've got spring chinook headed
home." He ultimately endorsed funding for the trapping equipment.
The Bonneville Power
Administration did not support either the state or CRITFC proposal,
indicating they should be consolidated for a comprehensive description
of the proposed work and cost-sharing with other entities, according to
an NPCC staff memo. BPA funds the Council's fish and wildlife program
and makes final funding decisions.
BPA Fish and Wildlife
Director Bill Maslen told the Fish and Wildlife Committee his agency was
"trying to do the right thing."
"We think its good
value," he said of the projects. "But this isn't about good
work." The issue is a proper allocation of funding responsibility.
"Other sources of
funds, including from the states, has not been made available," he
noted.
He said, however, that
BPA "would be comfortable with the decisions you make." After
the NPCC's Wednesday's funding recommendations were made, Maslen said
BPA concurred.
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Source:
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