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Hal Alabaster (Seattle)
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A task force has been named to make recommendations for removing sea lions -- including the possibility of humanely killing a small number of them -- that have for almost 10 years been preying on steelhead at Seattle's Ballard Locks on Lake Washington, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
The 21-person task force is made up of scientists knowledgeable about sea lions, and representatives of conservation organizations, the fishing community, the state, Indian tribes and NOAA.
The first public meeting of the task force will be Sept. 30 at 10:00 a.m. in the auditorium, Building 9, at NOAA's Western Regional Center, 7600 Sand Point Way N.E. in Seattle.
All meetings will be open to the public, although the public will not be allowed to discuss or debate issues with the task force. At the first meeting, however, the fisheries service intends to allow the public a limited amount of time to provide relevant information that may assist the task force in its deliberations. Future meetings of the task force will be announced by NOAA after the Sept. 30 meeting.
Last July, Washington state's Department of Fish and Wildlife asked NOAA to look into setting up such a task force, a move made possible by changes to the Marine Mammal Protection Act earlier this year.
Washington state's request for action from NOAA came after years of attempts by NOAA and the state to deal with the sea lions through a variety of methods, including relocating them, attempting to divert them with nets, and trying to frighten them away with firecrackers, rubber-tipped arrows and underwater noises.
The Lake Washington steelhead population has been steadily dwindling in recent years, primarily because of sea lion predation. The Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that sea lions are eating over half the returning steelhead. Wild returns of steelhead have gone from about 2,500 fish in the mid-1980s to only 70 last season.
Because of federal protection, the California sea lion population, in contrast to the steelhead trout's, is robust, with more than 100,000 individ- uals along the West Coast. Scientists with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service believe the marine mammal's population has been growing at a rate of about 10 percent per year since the early 1970's.
Every year, starting around mid-December, about 30-50 sea lions gather in the area of the locks, which facilitate ship passage from Puget Sound into Lake Washington, and begin to prey on returning steelhead. The state says that most of the predation can be attributed to only three to six animals.
The task force will meet over the next 60 days to review information and public comments, and make its recommendation to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service on whether or not to approve the state's request to kill the offending sea lions. The task force must also suggest non-lethal alternatives, if it believes they are practical.
The fisheries service will have 30 days after it gets the task force's recommendations to make a final decision on Washington's July request.
The fisheries service is responsible for the protection of sea lions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the agency has been asked to list the steelhead trout as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.