Activists protesting Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's sea lion branding program reported that one sea lion drowned after being branded with the number 349. Photos taken today show the animal alive and well, according to ODFW. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Fish & Wildlife, Sea lions

Activists with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society say a branding operation in Astoria on Sunday caused one sea lion to die this morning. But the Oregon Department of Fish And Wildlife says it has no evidence supporting the group's claim. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Fish & Wildlife, Sea lions

Spared from a death sentence, some Columbia River sea lions caught eating protected fish at Bonneville Dam are now living in captivity. I visited the two that are on display at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Fish & Wildlife, Sea lions

The lethal removal of salmon-gobbling sea lions at a Columbia River dam isn't happening right now, but with litigation underway and Congress considering a rewrite of the laws, a federal agency has decided to revoke the states' authority to take out these marine mammals. Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea lions

About a week after the feds OK'd a new plan to kill sea lions at Bonneville Dam, opponents with the Humane Society and Wild Fish Conservancy are taking them back to court to stop the killing. Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea lions

The sturgeon count on the Columbia River has plummeted from 202,200 in 1995 to 77,000 this year. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is expected to cut sturgeon catch limits for the fourth year in a row. The fish aren't at risk of extinction, but something is wrong. As The Oregonian reports today, fishery managers don't know as much ... Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, Columbia River Basin, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sea lions, Sturgeon

For the next three months, it will be someone's job to light fireworks and drive a boat around to scatter sea lions below Willamette Falls – five days a week from dawn til dusk (almost one of my top five fish and wildlife jobs ... but not quite). The second annual hazing of sea lions to protect Endangered Species Act ... Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, Columbia River Basin, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sea lions, Willamette River

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission agreed on another cut to sturgeon catch limits on Friday, capping the annual catch at 17,000 fish for sport and commercial boats below Bonneville Dam for 2011-13. As Allen Thomas at The Columbian reports, that's down from a limit of 24,000 last year – which was already the result of a 40 percent reduction. ... Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, Sea lions, Sturgeon

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings says killing sea lions is sometimes the only option for managers trying to protect salmon and steelhead at Bonneville Dam. Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, Doc Hastings, Sea lions

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has decided not to appeal a Ninth Circuit Court decision that found fault with the program that lethally removes California sea lions from the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam to protect threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. Continue reading →

Filed under: Fish & Wildlife, Endangered species, Marine Mammal Protection Act, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea lions