I haven't read all of this yet, so haven't formed an opinion, but for what it's worth we might all find this interesting.

http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/pubs/tm/tm28/tm28.htm#toc

Note that the study used a compilation of available data, and did not use newly collected data. The study also was from '97.

Probably the most elightening thing about this to me is that the problem animals appear to be the California sea lion rather than the Stellars. Cali. lions are not endangered, Stellars are.

I don't think blasting marine mammals for preying on our hatchery fish is the way to go, but if they're threatening native stocks, that's a WHOLE different story, especially if they're not threatened themselves.

I also don't think a bounty on sea lions is plausible, because of the "shoot first, identify species later" attitude that I think would be prevalent in the population that would be most likely to want to entertain the idea. It should be an agency function to thin (if it's determined that it's necessary) or at least require a licensing program to make sure those involved know what they're doing.