May 06, 2005

5/6 - Sea Lion Wars!

I heard about it from every fisherman I spoke with in the Central California coast. Now the good people of Washington and Oregon are throwing explosives at the beasts in an effort to save their salmon run. Saving endangered species is relatively easy compared to the difficulty of trying to figure out what to do with a super-abundant (but lovable) species like sea lions. And in response to the California fishermen complaints, I checked in with a few of the experts who know the real baselines for west coast pinnipeds and guess what, they say many of the seal and sea lion populations are more abundant now than any time in the past 500 years. The fishermen aren't exaggerating.
seal.jpg
How could anybody throw a bomb at a face like that?

Posted by Randy Olson at May 6, 2005 08:51 AM