Ousted Sea Lions Find Their Way Back

First Gumby was spotted last Thursday taking a nap on a platform in Puget Sound near Seattle. Then Colin and Vern showed up north of the city. And on Monday, to the dismay of weary marine biologists, George was found in the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.

One by one, four of six California sea lions--given names by Washington state wildlife officials who in March packed up the beasts and sent them back to their birthplace in the Channel Islands off the Ventura County coast--made the 1,000-mile return trip to feast on steelhead trout. The officials expect the two other mammals to arrive back in Washington soon.

“This is getting increasingly frustrating,” said Doug Zimmer, spokesman for the Washington Department of Wildlife.

Since sea lions became a protected species in 1972, their West Coast population has exploded.

In the Seattle area, sea lions have eaten so many steelhead trout as the fish have made their way to spawn that the run at the Ballard Locks canal has shrunk from about 4,000 fish annually to 2,000. Two Indian tribes in Seattle, the Muckleshoot and the Suquamish, have federal treaty rights to fish for the trout and have pressured government officials to do something about the sea lions.

But nothing seems to keep the beasts away, said Martin Fox, a biologist for the Suquamish Indians.

State and federal officials detonated firecrackers underwater to scare the sea lions away, but the animals became used to the sound. Biologists then fired plastic arrows at them, but “they got used to being bonked on the head,” Fox said.

So in March, Washington wildlife experts decided to capture some of the animals and ship them back to California. The Washington officials were able to detect their return because radio transmitters had been attached to the sea lions.

“We were surprised they came back so fast,” said Joe Scordino, a deputy chief with the National Marine Fishery Service in Seattle. “I guess they like the food up here better.”

Scordino said officials are now considering asking the federal government to allow them to kill the bothersome mammals, an idea that has been sharply criticized by environmentalists.