🚀 go-pugleaf

Don Homuth <dhomuthoneatcomcast.net> wrote:

> On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:05:55 -0700, lein <boomer_the_cat@my-deja.com>
> wrote:
> 
>>On Jun 26, 2:02 pm, Don Homuth <dhomuthoneatcomcast.net> wrote:
>>> On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:38:17 -0700, pjb...@webtv.net (Paul J. Berg)
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> >.....California Sea Lions that is.
>>>
>>> >California sea lions have eaten what appears to be a record number
>>> >of spring chinook salmon at Bonneville Dam, the U.S. Army Corps of
>>> >Engineers reports.
>>>
>>> Proper animal control means culling that herd.  If the salmon runs
>>> were larger, the predation numbers wouldn't be so critical.  But
>>> since the run sizes are small, then the predation should be limited.
>>>
>>> However it can be done.  If the animals can't be hazed away with
>>> non-lethal methods, then killing them outright can be justified as a
>>> means of protecting the salmon run.
>>
>>Justified for what reason?
> 
> Predation.  If we are to do wildlife management, then controlling the
> number of predators and their effect is entirely reasonable.
> 
> Remember when folks used to like to control the number of cougars
> because they might be killing elk?
> 
> 'Course, it turned out that the number of cougars had little to do
> with the number of elk.  But we still control cougars that are too
> adept at predation.
> 
> Same thing with other predatory species.
> 
>>The Sea Lions were here first
> 
> First before what?  The salmon runs?  Probably not.  Sea lions weren't
> known to be upstream in the Columbia in sufficient numbers to take one
> of 25 salmon during historical times.
> 
>>... and in the
>>end, if you don't end up with smoked salmon on your plate, too bad.
> 
> The smoked salmon on my plate doesn't come from the Columbia Runs.
> 
> This is not about keeping the salmon runs for humans.  I'd support a
> ban on commercial fishing for salmon as well, for example.  But the
> sea lions have started a really bad habit -- and they appear to be
> teaching others to indulge in it as well.
> 
> We are the ones who emplaced the barriers that slow the fish runs so
> that the sea lions have easy pickings below the dam.  If we wish to
> keep the salmon runs intact, then it's up to us to find a way to
> control the predation and the predators.
> 
> Killing the ones who have migrated upstream will stop them from
> teaching others to do the same sort of thing.
> 
> It's not as though there's a shortage of sea lions, after all.
> 

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