AP: Wily sea lion has figured out how to feast at dam

[question everything]

Wily sea lion has figured out how to feast at dam

'C404' climbs fish ladder to gorge on chinook salmon

By Joseph B. Frazier
ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 2, 2006

In his way, “C404” is kind of cute, with those whiskers, soft brown eyes and furry little head. But to many, he's a sea lion either from hell – or from Harvard.

C404 has driven the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Bonneville Dam in Cascade Locks, Ore., to near distraction as he and his ilk sit at the base and feast on salmon gathered to continue upriver to spawn. Numerous sea lions head for the dam each spring, but C404 is in a class by himself. He has figured out how to get into fish ladders that help fish past the dam – where endangered salmon and other fish become his easy prey.

The engineers have used everything legal to get rid of the California sea lion, who may weigh 1,000 pounds or more. They have installed grated exclusion gates and tried huge firecrackers, rockets, rubber bullets, and noises sea lions don't like. But C404 has given them the flipper. He and a handful of cohorts are waiting for the spring run of chinook salmon, which starts in earnest this month.

Then C404, named because of a brand applied by a state and federal program, will personify a larger problem, as 100 or more of his buddies join him. Last year, they ate about 3.5 percent of the migrating run at a time when salmon numbers were down and demand was up. This year's commercial season may be canceled because of river problems elsewhere. The loss percentage is climbing.

(snip)

Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060402/news_1n2sealion.html

[woo me with science]

1. LOL I love stories like this...

until they shoot him, that is.

[beam me up scottie]

2. Hopefully they won't kill him.

C404 and his kind aren't endangered, but they're protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Incorrigibles can be singled out for “lethal removal,” a long, complicated process, Stansell said.

He said that nearly happened at the Ballard Locks in Seattle, where sea lions that almost wiped out a winter steelhead run in the 1990s were marked for death.

But the Humane Society sued and then-President Clinton urged clemency. The worst of the miscreants were packed off to SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla.

Then-Vice President Al Gore called SeaWorld to say thanks.

sigh...remember when we had a human president and vice president?

[file83]

12. Maybe they could use 'C-4' to take out C404.

Da-dun-tssss. ;-)

[stumblnrose]

3. What about the fish?

Okay, I'm real dumb when it comes to this one. Why is the sea lion's life more important than the fishies?

[beam me up scottie]

4. Why is the lion's life more important than the gazelle's?

Why is the wolf's life more important than the rabbits?

Why are you asking silly questions?

Why am I talking like Rumsferatu?

[mike_c]

6. wrong question....

Why is the DAM more important? Dams on the Columbia are one of the reasons for declining salmonid runs-- take out the dams and fish populations could recover sufficiently to not be affected by sea lion predation. Of course, that would hurt the profits of the dam owners and the other corporations who suck up that hydro-power.

[seriousstan]

8. Are you hand cranking your computer? Or are you using a treadle?

How is your electricity produced?

[mike_c]

9. the old fashioned way...

...with fossil fuels.

All kidding aside, you've addressed the real issue-- do we manage the earth's resources for the convenience of an ever growing human population-- an ultimately unsustainable convenience-- and for corporate profit, or do we manage those resources for long term sustainability and with a minimum of environmental consequences? We really can't have it both ways. Fifty years ago the salmon runs in western rivers like the Columbia and rivers where I live like the Klamath, the Smith, and the Mattole were immense. Now they are barely hanging on, and the number of returning fish is steadily declining dispite all attempts to assist their recovery. It really is a question of whether we want cheap hydro-electricity or majestic fish populations, timber economies or fish, wilderness roads or fish, and so on.

[seriousstan]

10. The walk the walk and LOG OFF.

[oneold1-4u]

5. Create the problem

The greatest over abundance of both sea lions and seals, due to strong protections, has created a nightmare for the fisheries on the Pacific coast.
Wild salmon are better for human food than the farmed, but no one cares that people soon will have no choice. The salmon sport fishery (charters) were put out of business over a decade ago and now it is the commercials. With the population growing by millions it may soon be necessary to to use many of these mammals for human food. They were always used by the Native American for food and clothing so that should not be a crime! Maybe the ODFW could make up losses on salmon fishing allotments and tags by selling hunting tags for these critters!

[ConsAreLiars]

7. TV news in Seattle let slip that the otters' take is about 4% of the run

(Forget which channel, probably 5.) How many are killed off due to the dams, due to deforestation of the tributaries where they spawn and the (toxic) warming of the streams, due to pesticides pumped into the water, and so on?

[stumblnrose]

11. Local News

My wife from NY thought it was real funny when we moved to Seattle that all the local station news seemed to be about the salmon. Not that I'm laughing about their plight but is there anything going on in the rest of the world worth covering?

[question everything]

13. Local news is about... local news

when we lived in IA we used to shake our heads in disbelief when the "Iowa connection" was sought with any national or intestinal story "Iowa born man pissed from the Golden Gate Bridge..."

Then we moved to LA and... guess what. Same mundane "people oriented" stories.

We no longer listen to local news. Only the morning ones - that start before the national "morning shows" give briefly the news, plus traffic and weather.

One thing, though. I used to wonder at the volume dedicated to the movie industry on the pages of the LA Times. And this was when it was still a good newspaper, before it became part of the Chicago Tribune. Then I realized that in LA, the movie and entertainment industry play an important role in the area's economy.

[MissB]

14. The salmon are doomed anyway.