The endangered southern resident killer whale population isn’t getting enough to eat, and hasn’t been since 2018, a new University of British Columbia (UBC) study has determined. The animals have been in an energy deficit, averaged across spring, summer and fall, for six of the last 40 years—meaning the energy they get from food is […]
Tag: Steller sea lions
US allows killing of hundreds of sea lions to save struggling salmon
US authorities have given wildlife managers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho permission to start killing hundreds of sea lions in the Columbia River basin in hopes of helping struggling salmon and steelhead trout. The marine mammals long ago figured out that they could feast on the migrating fish where they bottleneck at dams or where […]
Sea lions to be culled to protect salmon
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is accepting public comments on a new plan to cull sea lions on the Columbia River, along the Oregon-Washington border, in order to benefit populations of salmon and steelhead, which have been falling in recent years. Current management policy allows up to 92 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) to […]
Could sleeper sharks be preying on protected Steller sea lions?
Pacific sleeper sharks, a large, slow-moving species thought of as primarily a scavenger or predator of fish, may be preying on something a bit larger – protected Steller sea lions in the Gulf of Alaska. A new study found the first indirect evidence that this cold-blooded shark that can grow to a length of more […]
Court Upholds Protections for Steller Sea Lions
We’re pleased to share with you that yesterday the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld necessary protections for the endangered Western Population of Steller sea lions, recognizing that this threatened population still needs protection from industrial fishing. The protections, originally established in 2010 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), were designed to reduce competition […]