In the 1950s, California sea lion populations hovered around 8,000, spurring lawmakers to consider legislation to protect them. By the time the MMPA was introduced in 1972, populations had risen to around 75,000. Today they number well over 300,000. By the numbers, the MMPA was successful in protecting sea lions. But it also limited Tribal agency and the ability to undertake the traditional population controls that balanced the river ecosystem for centuries.
With the protections in the MMPA, sea lion populations have grown exponentially, which has impacted the balance of local ecosystems. Sea lions have pushed further and further up the Columbia River, where they are now consuming endangered salmon at a rate four times greater than the annual harvest by fishermen and Tribes.
“I have local fishermen telling me that nearly every salmon they pull out of the river have wounds from sea lions. The fact is, politicians in DC aren’t out on our rivers, they’re still living in a world of 1970s data points. If we want to keep things in balance, we need to restore agency to our Tribal partners and their designees,” said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez, “In living memory, Columbia River Salmon was subsistence food, if you lost your job you knew your family wouldn’t go hungry if you were a good fisherman. Now it’s in danger of becoming a luxury good—and that would be a profound loss to our culture and heritage. This bill is about supporting the agency that comes with living off the land and restoring Tribes’ ability to rebalance the ecosystem to support salmon runs.”
In 2018, Congress gave expanded removal authority to states and certain Tribal managers in the Columbia River. These efforts have persistently failed to reach authorized minimums for removals, falling short of protecting endangered salmon and steelhead populations, while at a cost of nearly $40,000 per removal.
The Protecting Columbia River Salmon Act both expands current removal strategies and extends removal authority to federally recognized Tribes with ancestral heritage to the river and allows them more tools to mitigate sea lion populations.
Specifically, this legislation would:
- Extend intentional lethal take authorities to Indian Tribes with ancestral ties to the Columbia River between River Mile 0 and McNary Dam
- Allow such Tribes to intentionally lethally take California and Steller sea lions, who are predatory to endangered salmon and steelhead populations
- Provide such Tribes with the discretion to determine the humane manner and appropriate methods in which takes may be completed
