More Sea Lions, Fewer Fish
- June 09, 2017
- John Harrison
More sea lions and fewer spring Chinook salmon at Bonneville Dam this year was not good news for the fish.
An aerial survey by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in February counted more than 6,000 seals and 1,600 sea lions in the Astoria area, according to a report in The Seattle Times.
If the circumstantial evidence bears out, adult salmon returning from the ocean to the Columbia River Basin are being killed by seals and sea lions between the estuary and Bonneville Dam in alarming numbers, according to research by NOAA Fisheries.