For the time being, the traps have been removed from Bonneville dam. The killing season is over for another year. This does not mean that sea lions are not still in danger: Indeed, the ODFW has been given the authority to kill sea lions on their hit list anywhere they find them, at any time of the year, with the exception of their rookeries. Last year, they killed one sea lion more than 100 miles from the dam, in August. So the danger continues for now. Volunteer monitors still being sought to keep an eye on the entire Columbia, and on the coast.

[UPDATE: Although monitors saw the traps removed, and although the May 21st Army Corps of Engineers Status Report stated that traps had been removed and stored, and that trapping at the dam had ended for the year, the traps were redeployed five days later and two more animals were killed. Sad that the ODFW feels the need to play such games with the public. As citizens of the Pacific NW, we believe we have the right to witness what our state agencies are doing - with OUR tax dollars no less - to our shared ecosystem. We also believe in government accountability. Apparently, ODFW does not share our belief. How do YOU feel about it?]

Mayor Don Stevens of North Bonneville met with three sea lion defenders this week to discuss the issue of the hazing and killing of sea lions near his idyllic town on the Columbia. It was very refreshing to talk with someone who actually understands the ecosystem in which we all live well enough to know that killing sea lions is no way to save salmon.

North Bonneville is a town on the front lines. Surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery on the face of the earth, it sits perched among emerald, cloud-capped peaks, and spans the banks of the Columbia from just north of the Bonneville dam to the rich wetlands and verdant hills to the South of the dam. The streams surrounding North Bonneville teem with native salmon, and the town has prided itself on restoring habitat and improving stream beds to bring those salmon back. Clearly, these are people who care about salmon and about the Columbia river ecosystem. In spite of the misinformation being perpetuated by ODFW, claiming that we must choose between the salmon and the sea lions, the people of North Bonneville understand that both species belong on this river, both species co-evolved here, and the sea lions are not a problem to the survival of the salmon as a species.
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