Two prominent Obama administration officials were in Oregon today to discuss salmon recovery. NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco and White House Council on Environmental Quality chairwoman Nancy Sutley came to talk salmon, but pointedly did not allow participation from the public — indeed, the doors were closed to almost everyone. This did not stop sea lion advocates, anglers, and other stakeholders from making their voices heard anyway.

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When the states sought permission to kill sea lions at Bonneville dam, they claimed in part of their application that “The proposed action will not establish a precedent for future actions.” Unfortunately, this was yet another untruth, in a long series of untruths that have marked this program from the very beginning. In actual fact, this program IS being used to set a very dangerous precedent, that could mean the end of protections for marine mammals on the entire west coast. It turns out that the Columbia river killing program is, in fact, a test case — one that is being very carefully watched by wildlife managers and fishing industry lobbyists all down the coast. Secretly, groundwork is already being laid in preparation for section 120 waivers on the Rogue, the Alsea, and many other rivers from Washington to Oregon to California. Even in Alaska, predator “management” programs are being explored with regard to killing marine mammals in order to protect the fishing industry. If it turns out that killing sea lions on the Columbia is easier than dealing with the real issues behind salmon extinction, these operations are expected to kick into high gear in the near future. This is why resistance is so very important on the Columbia: This is the Front Line. Many lives are hanging in the balance.

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Although wildlife agents are stating that sea lions are “not cooperating” with their efforts to trap them, and although the initial plan was to shoot them if they could not trap them, officials are backing away from the squeamish task of shooting these intelligent and graceful marine mammals in the head, at least for this year. Gunfire is still considered an open option for next year, but for now at least, wildlife agents are claiming that they will not do any shooting this year. Speculation as to why they have changed the plan is rampant, but the most often cited reason among experts who oppose the killing program is simply that the public will not tolerate the sight of protected marine mammals being slaughtered in such a brutal manner. With so many sea lion defenders monitoring the area near the dam, with video cameras no less, it is highly unlikely that officials would be able to shoot these animals to death without witnesses. “Can you imagine how that would play out in the media?” mused one marine mammal expert.

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For the second week in a row, government officials reported that no sea lions were trapped, transferred, or killed this week. Some have speculated that the reason may be that officials have paused their killing briefly, in order to do their best to clean up their records after being caught mis-identifying an animal whom they thought was on their hit list last month. Today, however, Craig Bartlett of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) told IDA director Matt Rossell that the reason why no sea lions have been captured this week or last is simply that the sea lions are not cooperating with the government’s plan to trap and kill them.

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