Sea Lions Give ‘Em the Slip in Battle of Puget Sound

As of Wednesday, the score was California sea lions 3, Washington state wildlife officials 0, in a battle here to save spawning steelhead rainbow trout from the voracious sea lions’ appetites.

Washington state wildlife biologists, aided by National Marine Fisheries experts, are trying to capture as many as a dozen gluttonous sea lions and ship them back to California before the cunning mammals eat most, if not all, of the more than 2,000 steelhead trout trying to make their way up the Cedar River to their spawning beds southeast of this port city.

Three times in the last two days, boat-borne wildlife experts have hunted the sea lions, seeking to snare them with huge gill nets. Each time, the animals have eluded them.

This contest is taking place before hundreds of spectators on the Seattle waterfront in an urban ship channel that links saltwater Puget Sound to freshwater Lake Washington, by way of the Ballard Ship Locks. It has also attracted protesters from organizations who object to attempts to trap the sea lions.

Steelhead and salmon swimming upstream must bypass the locks through fish ladders. Sea lions lie in wait for the fish at the narrow entrance to the ladders, and eat them before they can reach safety.

The sea lions grasp the fish, which weigh up to 20 pounds, in their muscular jaws and shake them violently to kill them. The lions then dive deep into the water where they rip giant bites from their prey, surfacing only for air and sometimes to get a better grasp on the fish.

In their forays after the sea lions, 30 men have tried to trap the animals in the ship channel’s narrow confinement, but they have succeeded only in temporarily isolating three of the animals. Each of the three managed to dive under the nets and escape.

On Wednesday, the most troublesome half-dozen sea lions were seen several hundred yards out in the sound, feeding around nets set by the Muckleshoot Indian tribe, and did not approach the fish ladders.

Around noon, however, one animal approached the fish ladders and started feeding. A state Department of Game boat closed a net strung across the entrance, trapping the animal.

The frightened animal swam furiously into the net several times trying to break free, then dove to the bottom where it found enough room to escape. It surfaced downstream from the net to loud cheers from spectators on shore.

State officials said they will try again today.

If state and federal officials succeed in trapping any of the sea lions, they will tranquilize them and take them to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. The current plan is to ship them to Santa Barbara and release them in the Santa Barbara Channel, a prospect that dismays California wildlife officials.

“These are California sea lions,” said Rolland Schmiteen, National Marine Fisheries regional director. “They breed in the area around the Channel Islands off the Santa Barbara coast.”

About 1,000 of the mammals migrate each year to Puget Sound, and it is a relative handful causing all the commotion.

The animals are protected by federal law and cannot be harmed, Schmiteen said. But the troublesome ones threaten to wipe out 70% of the estimated 2,500 steelhead currently making their way upstream in a 100-day run that lasts from mid-December through April, he said. Despite the use of 72 firecracker-like “seal bombs” exploded underwater to chase off the animals, they still consumed 13 fish on Monday, he said.

This hazing with firecrackers goes on seven days a week, and without the $36,000-a-year program, the steelhead run would be nearly wiped out, Schmiteen said.

Washington state biologist Robert Pfeifer, however, said “these seal bombs don’t work anymore. The lions are no longer afraid of them. They just wait awhile and come back again.”

California Department of Fish and Game experts do not want the sea lions back in the state’s waters.

“We cannot concur with what they (officials in Washington) are doing,” said Bill Maxwell, California Department of Fish and Game marine resources supervisor. “This is just shifting the problem from one area to another.”

Some Raid Fishing Boats

There are about 100,000 sea lions off the California coast, Maxwell said. Some have become troublesome to fishermen, stealing salmon off the hooks of commercial fishing boats and raiding the catch of private-party boats.

Sea lions also have been seen in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and up the Klamath River in Northern California where they also feed on steelhead and salmon.

Despite the California protest, federal officials will make the final decision on where to relocate the troublesome animals.

Gary Smith, deputy regional director for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said that in addition to Santa Barbara, sites in Central California and Oregon also are under consideration.