Scubaism

Congressmen from the Pacific Northwest are pushing a bill that would make it easier for state officials to kill sea lions, in an effort to keep the marine mammals from wiping out the endangered salmon they like to eat.Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), Brian Baird (D-Wash.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) introduced a bill yesterday that would speed up the process for their states to get permits to harm or kill sea lions. The sea lions gather along the Bonneville Dam, where they feasted on 4 percent of the protected salmon that pass through the area last year.

The bill, H.R. 1769, would alter the Marine Mammal Protection Act and waive the National Environmental Policy Act to allow states to kill up to 1 percent of California sea lions, or 83 animals.

It would substitute what is now a somewhat complicated process for obtaining a permit to “take” sea lions and replace it with a 90-day deadline with “expedited” decision-making, according to Bob Lohn, Northwest regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Federal and state fisheries officials spoke in favor of the effort to streamline the permit process at a hearing yesterday in the House Natural Resources Committee, but also said they would like to see some changes to the bill.

The California sea lion population has been growing in numbers, and many of the sea lions have grown more bold in their search for food. After breeding in southern California rookeries, male sea lions migrate north in search of food, and many gather in the lower Columbia River. In recent years, nearly 100 sea lions have traveled 150 miles up river to the Bonneville Dam, where they were rarely spotted several years ago.

The sea lions consumed 4 percent of returning adult spring chinook salmon along the Bonneville Dam area last year. Officials at the dam have tried “hazing” the sea lions away from the salmon, with techniques like rubber bullets or pyrotechnics, but they have not successfully scared them away from the salmon.

California, Oregon and Idaho applied in December 2006 for a “section 120″ permit under the MMPA to kill some of the sea lions. NOAA appointed an 18-person panel yesterday to review the request, and Lohn said they expect to complete the review by January 2008, in time for the states to act before the next spring migration.