European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Dining on fish at Seattle s Ballard locks efforts Ere under Way to keep sea sons and Harbor seals from fish headed upstream to spawn. By Katia Blackburn associated press  residents on Page sound ate being frustrated by Large herds of sea lion Sand Harbor sea feasting on Bottom fish Salmon and endangered Steelhead Trout headed upstream of spawn the in feral Law that protects endangered wholes and other Marine mammals prohibits killing the sea Lions which kill and eat More than Hall 01 the Steelhead run each year. Up to 2,000 sea Lions converge on puget so ind in Washington slate each i All and heir numbers arc on the Rise Wildi Ilc exports say. In addition to their threat to the fisheries Llo als designed As divers rest spots ate typically crowded with a Kimg sea Lions and at Leas one Lerry Dock has reeked from their droppings. ". California sea Lions arrive from their sunny summer dimes off California in october and november and stay in the Northwest into april and May before migrating Back South. Sea Lions and Harbor seals which. Reside year round in the same area have flourished under the 1972 Marin mammal Protection act. Originally  save whales sea otters and other Marine mammals including some. Seals and sea Lions whose numbers were decimated Over the past 100 years people like to watch the bears at Yellowstone Pak but it they gel into the. Garbage cans or pose a threat they Are taken and removed and if they return once of twice the animals Are  says James Schmidt p Trout unlimited in Seal lie. One learns in from the other. You have to learn to eliminate the ones thai have. Learned to go to Tho garbage dump the learning process Hal brings bears to dumps in Parks is the same learning process Hal has attracted sea Lions to sea Lions feasting frustrates fishermen the bal Ard locks in Seattle where Salmon and Steelhead must use a fish ladder to gain Access to fresh Waters of Lake Washington and the streams where they spawn. Onco one sea lion learns the fish Are easy pickings he brings his buddies scientists say. It s just got worse and worse since 1380." says Susan Ewing spokeswoman Lor the Washington Depar Mehl of wildlife. She said that while a Lew sea Lions used to show up up id 26 sea Lions Are expected  on hand at the fish ladder when Steelhead Start running this month. Last Winter about 800 wild steel had managed to spawn Wilh sea Lions blamed Tor killing More than that number the previous Winter Rev or than 600 fish escaped to spawn. _ a group of commercial and sport Lisheron had sought changes in the Marine mammal Protection act this year thai would have allowed Federal fisheries managers to shoot sea Lions that encroached on the fish Jerry Pavletich of the Salmon and Steelhead Council of Joul unlimited notes that various efforts to Chase away Iho sea Lions or net of i the Lish ladder approach have failed. V unless the sea Lions Aro somehow driven off he says. The endangered wild Steelhead could be  efforts by fishermen. Congress decided against giving managers the option of killing   think Congress refused to bite the. Bullet Pavletich says it s understandable. Ii s a very emotional  " there is Strong support to protect Marine mammals at any cos. Even at the Cost of our fisheries resources and that is untorlunate.". Congress did. However continue Iho acl five More years and is calling for. Research into fisheries and mammal resources in the North Pacific a move that some fish managers applauded a Large environmental coalition led by Greenpeace also was pleased Wilh the outcome in congross.-,. Ben Deerla Nori Wesl Ocean ecology campaigner for Greenpeace. Says Congress simply did i believe Iho Marine mammals should  to. Control by lethal Means because of. The one problem Case in Pugel sound Pavelich says the  parties to petition Lor a review of Marine mammal populations and the head of the  of Commerce could. Author ire shooting the sea Lions in Somo cases. -. " Joe Scordino Marine mammal coordinator for the Northwest regional office of the National Marine fisheries service says the sea  t been endangered since it was hunted in the 1920s Guy Thornburgh executive director of the Pacific Marine fisheries commission in Portland ore., says he would like to see a regional management Council for Marina mammals like the fisheries commission to develop a policy on Marine mammal management. According to Scordino. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 sea Lions feed in puget sound each year from fall to Spring. Each year. Their numbers and the length of their slay appear id be on the Rise Scordino  May be As Many As 4,000 More sea Lions fattening up each Winter in British Columbia s Georgia Strait and As Many As 157,000 May inhabit West coast Waltors altogether. While direct links Between sea Lions and Hake or Whiting stocks Haven t been established cute is Schmidt a stale fisheries Marine biologist said. The fishery has plunged from on estimated 45 million pounds in 1933 to 14 million pounds this year she said the fishery May have Lobo. Closed for a couple of years if in s to be saved. Sea Lions were estimated to have eaten up to 2 million pounds of Hake his year while fishermen were allowed to Lake Only 500.000 pounds. Pal Gearin biologist with the National Marino fisheries service says Hake a. Much slower fish than Salmon or Ste Dhond was found in so percent of sea lion scat studied in the sound in idb7 meanwhile  populations in Nori Wesl coastal Waters have increased 10 percent a year since 1976. They forage freely in areas where they used to be shot by fishermen Scordino says v -.-,  " ,. More than 75 percent  Gill net. Salmon fisheries Al Grays  Willapa Bay Aro being destroyed by Harbor seals he says adding i think ,. We re just seeing the tip of the iceberg."-. Fortunately Scordino says tackling sea lion nuisance problems unrelated to fisheries has been a Tot easier Large Timber floats for divers at the Edmonds underwater Park were recently replaced Wilh smaller foam floats thai the bashing Barking sea Lions can l leap onto. A floating platform at the local Terry Dock has been fenced Oft so the stench from the beasts is dissipating. Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday november 26, f988