Greetings Fishies
While the news media shows you pictures of the liquid eyed darlings, and people’s heart melt, I would like to tell you how the commercial fishing industry views them. They hate them. Several blogs ago I gave you the text of Congressman Don Young’s statement regarding the listing of the Steller on the Endangered Species list. Please keep that in mind as you read through the rest of this and know that its only the tip of the iceberg.
The harsh reality of the situation with the Steller is that their population has exploded. This has led to a tremendous amount of property damage and loss if income to fishermen and boaters along the entire west coast and Alaska. Boaters of every stripe know the horror stories of Stellers who claim a boat as their own and woe to anyone who begs to differ with them. Once ensconced on the deck they refuse to leave and will fight it out with the boat owner. They completely destroy anything they come into contact with. They have been filmed leaving the basins and clambering atop cars to sun themselves resulting in the vehicle being “totaled”. The Stellers leave their calling cards in huge masses and the smell is eye watering from quite a distance.
Most ports and harbors now have a year round sea lion community which grows by leaps and bounds. They stake out entire sections of docks, often causing the docks to sink with their weight. It is beyond irritating to arrive at the top of the ramp to go to your boat only to discover a dozen of the creatures encamped at the bottom, refusing to give way.
I have watched in horror as well intentioned but clueless tourists, with small children in tow, attempt to pet or feed these creatures. A bull Steller can weigh over a ton, has large teeth and often a nasty disposition. There is a tale of a tourist calling 911 and demanding that law enforcement come care for a big bull Steller that had a cough….
As you saw on DC, they play with floats and buoys, eventually destroying them. The buoys are not cheap, but even more expensive is the crab pot that was attached to it, often lost forever. Not only is there the cost of replacing the gear, but there is also the cost of the lost fishing time and income. Even the fish farms are having a time with them. The sea lions get into the net pens and eat a fortune in fish and with their destruction of the net, release the farmed fish into the wild. Sometimes they are unable to get back out of the pens and die there. Salmon fishermen will tell you what it’s like to begin to pull in their gillnets or hooks only to discover that the sea lions have taken a huge bite out of the belly of the fish, leaving an unmarketable carcass.
In his blog Wes Loy has the following:
Is fishing the Steller sea lion’s main problem?
The National Marine Fisheries Service has rolled out the latest draft of its Steller Sea Lion Recovery Plan, an important document that will guide regulators on how to protect the endangered western stock of the big, braying creatures.
The plan is naturally of keen interest to the fishing industry, having already lived for some years now with lots of restrictions. A leading theory is commercial nets scoop up fish the Stellers need for food.
Some in the industry pine for the day when the sea lion population ticks back up – federal scientists see faint signs it’s already happening – and waters closed to fishing might reopen. read more »
While this story is from Southern California, trust me that it holds true along the entire coast.
abc7.com: Sea Lion Population Causing Problems for Fishermen
Here is a good physical descriptor but please read anything else with an open mind:
Steller Sea Lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here is the official NMFS government site about the recovery:
Steller Sea Lions
Stay tuned!
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