By Richard Byrd

Columbia Basin Herald

WASHINGTON D.C. — A bill designed to curb sea lions preying on at-risk fish populations on the Columbia River passed through the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, H.R. 2083, passed the House in a vote of 288-116. The bill, introduced by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, and Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon, amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which prohibits the killing of marine mammals.

Under the new legislation the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is allowed to issue one-year permits to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, the Nez Pierce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and Cowlitz Indian Tribe to kill sea lions in certain portions of the Columbia River and select tributaries.

“With today’s (Tuesday’s) passage of my bipartisan bill to improve the survival of endangered salmon and steelhead, we’re taking a giant step forward in restoring an ecosystem sorely out of balance,” Herrera Beutler said. “The sea lion predation problem on the Columbia River will not go away without intervention from local and tribal managers, and I’m pleased that we’re now able to give these officials the tools they need to remove the most problematic sea lions and protect our native fish runs for generations to come.”

Under the bill, permits can be issued to kill up to 100 sea lions. Permit holders are required to be trained in natural resource management and the issuance of the permits themselves can be suspended after five years if the lethal removal of sea lions is no longer needed to protect fish populations.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been monitoring sea lion predation on salmon/steelhead below the Bonneville Dam in Washington from January through May since 2002. The number of California sea lions, which have been migrating north from California since the mid 1980s, has been fluctuating over the years, but during the 16-year time span almost 4,000 fish have been consumed per year directly below the dam. 32 wild salmon populations in the Upper Columbia River and Snake Rivers are at risk of predation by sea lions below Bonneville Dam.

“Billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent to improve salmon survival rates on the Columbia River, only to see rising predation from sea lions,” stated Fourth Congressional District Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Yakima. “This legislation demonstrates a targeted approach and a bipartisan, concerted effort over many years to come to a consensus on how to stop the severe problem of sea lion predation. I was pleased to work with my colleagues on this commonsense, bipartisan effort to mitigate this threat to salmon and steelhead populations. I will continue to advocate for sound-science decision-making for our river system.”

Identical legislation to H.R. 2083 has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator James Risch, R-Idaho. Moses Lake resident Rick Graser, a retired fishing guide who recently accompanied a group of lawmakers to the Bonneville Dam to see the issue first hand, has been a long time crusader to see a fix come about to the issue. Although he is pleased with the passing of the House bill, he says there needs to be a sense of urgency moving forward.

“We need to make sure the Senate moves forward on it. We can’t give up on this. It’s a bipartisan thing, it seems to me that everybody realizes what a bad problem this is and it’s a tragedy, it’s an emergency. I just hope they don’t sit on it very long and the movement on it is extremely fast,” Graser remarked. “Everyday that goes by that we don’t act on it and vote on this is probably another 800 fish that are eaten.”