GOLD BEACH -- When Ernie Weston hooked a 25-pound salmon last summer on Rogue River Bay, he did what he usually does: He handed the rod to his wife, Rena, and grabbed the net to haul in the fish.
Only this time, as he reached into the net, a sea lion beat him to the catch. The massive pinniped snapped up the salmon, the net and nearly Ernie.
"My hand was caught in the net and he just took off," the 82-year-old angler recalled. "I was almost clear over and in the water when my hand just happened to come loose."
If it hadn't, the couple believe he might have drowned.
The Westons' story is just one of many that led the Port of Gold Beach this year to hire hazers for the first time, to keep sea lions out of Rogue Bay and protect the local fishing industry.
Sea lions last year stole an estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the fish caught in the bay -- taking them right off people's rods and from their nets on the water, said Port Commissioner Lawrence Johnson.
It's no small matter, Johnson said. He estimates that about 40 percent of the south Oregon coastal community's economy comes from the charter fishing industry and spin-off business in gear shops, hotels and the like. Gold Beach has about 2,800 residents. On a summer day at the height of fishing season, it's not unusual to see more than 100 guided and private boats fishing the bay.
"Last summer was absolutely a disaster," said Rena Weston, a part-time Gold Beach resident. "They grab your fish and they rip the belly out and your fish is gone. You pay for a guide and a motel, and you go home with nothing."
So now each day, one of two hazers motors out onto the bay. There, guided by radio reports from fishermen, they use "seal bombs" -- like an underwater firecracker -- and "popper shells" -- shotgun shells with a secondary firecracker -- to chase the sea lions from the river out into the ocean.
The $40,000 tab for the program was paid for by the Curry Sportfishing Association and approved by state and federal agencies that protect sea lions under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.
"We have yet to have an angler lose a fish to a sea lion since we started the program," said hazer Mark Lottis, president of the fishing association and owner of a charter company.
"They're still coming in (to the bay), but when we start bothering them with all these things, they leave," he said. "When they are in the bay, they are so distracted, they don't get the chance to focus on the fish. They go back out into the ocean where they belong."
Hazers haven't been as lucky farther north, where sea lions continue to confound biologists trying to stop them from gorging on threatened spring chinook salmon as well as steelhead and sturgeon at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.
In Gold Beach, sea lions became a nuisance only in recent years. Four years ago, Lottis said there would be only the occasional fish lost. But in time, more and more sea lions caught on to the easy eats, and soon two sea lions multiplied to a dozen, and the numbers kept growing.
They grew bolder, too. There were days last summer when it seemed the sea lions were just having a little fun with their two-legged rivals.
"They were keying in on people sitting in their boats, driving around," Lottis said. "When they would see someone stand up, they would zip right over because they knew there was a fish on. They wouldn't even eat the fish. They would chase it down, toss it in the air, then go grab another one and leave the first for the sea gulls."
In addition to the hazing, the Port has also has begun a campaign to stop boaters from throwing fish remains back into the water. It collects the carcasses, which a Chico, Calif., company picks up weekly to make fish meal.
The Port also put up pipe barricades and sprinklers mounted on motion detectors on docks to discourage the sea lions from climbing up.
"The sea lion patrol has been an absolute godsend to the fishermen," Rena Weston said. "Just before the sea lion patrol started, I watched an older man fight for a fish for maybe 45 minutes. Just as he got the fish to the boat, the sea lion got it. It was heartbreaking. They just don't belong in the river."
Lori Tobias: 541-265-9394; loritobias@aol.com