Setting | Loud sea lions take over the docks at Hayden Island.

PORTLAND, Ore. (QUEEN) — A colony of noisy sea lions has swarmed the Hayden Island docks on the east aspect of I-5, drawing the eye of Portlanders and native biologists.

Oregon Division of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Beth Quillen instructed KOIN 6 Information it is regular for sea lions to observe the molt as they transfer up the Columbia River.

“Sea lions will observe this smelt run because it comes upriver earlier within the yr, particularly round and between the Cowlitz and Sandy rivers,” Quillen mentioned. “As soon as the smelt run is over, normally a big proportion of those seals and sea lions return to the estuary.”

Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Northwest Fisheries Science Middle spokesman Michael Milstein instructed KOIN 6 Information that the group of sea lions is all male. After breeding on the Channel Islands off southern California, hundreds of male sea lions are recognized to hunt smelt and salmon alongside the Columbia River every year.

“The mom stays there to incubate and nurse the pups whereas the males disembark and unfold alongside the West Coast,” Milstein mentioned. “They search for locations to relaxation and fish to eat as they placed on weight for the subsequent breeding season, when they may return to the rookeries.

The massive presence of sea lions has created issues for fishermen and conservationists who wish to shield the river’s endangered and threatened salmon. In 2018, the US Home of Representatives handed a invoice to guard native salmon populations Permits the killing of a choose variety of sea lions. yearly within the Columbia River. The regulation permits the federal authorities to subject as much as 100 permits to kill sea lions every year, that are granted to native tribal leaders and state officers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

“We have now empowered states and tribes to take away sea lions to cut back their influence on salmon, particularly the protected salmon that the area is working so onerous to revive,” Milstein mentioned. ” “There may be lots of frustration within the fishing group about this, which is comprehensible.”

Seals and sea lions are federally protected underneath the Marine Mammal Safety Act and killing them and not using a federal allow is prohibited. Violations of the Marine Mammal Safety Act This resulted in a $28,520 wonderful, one yr in jail and Seizure of any boat used to commit crimes.

Sea lions that hunt within the Columbia River are anticipated to return to the ocean in Might and June.