Will the Pacific Coast turn back the clock? That's the question
environmentalists are asking themselves in response to a new National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposal. In its Final Report to Congress
(Impacts of California Sea lions and the Pacific Harbor Seals on Salmonids
and West Coast Ecosystems, February 1999), NMFS recommends legalizing the
killing of seals and sea lions in response to concerns about declining
fisheries. These recommendations include giving state and Federal resource
agents permission to kill seals and sea lions without attempting reasonable
non-lethal alternatives, and without determination that seals and sea lions
are actually impacting fish stocks. They also include reinstating
authority for commercial fishers to shoot seals and sea lions to protect
gear and catch.
NMFS fails to report that the US Marine Mammal Protection Act already
includes provisions for lethal removal of pinnipeds which threaten public
safety, and which are individually identifiable as having significant
adverse impacts on the decline or recovery of salmonid stocks. The new NMFS
recommendations will promote indiscriminate and inhumane killing of
pinnipeds, and fail to address the real causes of salmon and steelhead
decline.
"The destruction of salmon and steelhead habitat through logging, water
diversions for agriculture, damming for hydropower, and development along
streams are generally agreed to have caused the depletion of stocks. It is
much easier to recommend shooting seals and sea lions than it is to
confront industries that are profiting off of habitat-destroying activities
and than it is to work closely with fishermen to determine how people and
pinnipeds can constructively coexist through development of nonlethal
deterrents, changes in fishing season to avoid interactions, etc." stated
Laura Seligsohn, Director of the Pinniped-Fisheries Project of Earth Island
Institute's International Marine Mammal Project. Seligsohn adds, "Most
responsible fishermen with whom I have spoken do not see this as an answer
either."
"The recommendations for killing seals and sea lions (pinnipeds) are
ecologically, ethically, socially, and scientifically indefensible and
irresponsible and should be avoided at all costs. There are no data to
support the contention that pinnipeds are responsible for the decline of
fisheries and none to indicate that the recommendations in this proposal
will achieve the stated goal of enhancing depleted fish populations", says
Dr. Toni Frohoff, Scientific Consultant to EII who also serves on the
Ballard Locks Pinniped-Fisheries Task Force.
NMFS has been remiss in fulfilling its responsibilities to explore these
non-lethal alternatives to lethal removal.
For more information contact:
Laura Seligsohn
Director, Pinniped Fisheries Project
415-788-3666
E-mail
Or
Dr. Toni Frohoff
(206) 780-2532
The International Marine Mammal Project, a project of Earth Island Institute,
works to protect, whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions around the world.
VIDEO AVAILABLE: Broadcast quality video of seals and sea lions that have
been shot available with a day of notice the week of February 15.
