WOW! As the author of this obviously hot, and somewhat passionate, topic I'll have to pour the coals to her a little bit more due to some of the responses that are pretty "pathetic", whatever.

My reasons for culling the resident Sea Lion herd are many. And yes, some are based on personal experience of having numerous fish, and gear, taken by them. This in itself is not sound reason to have a whack fest on these guy's. Yes, we've mismanaged a number of our resources, but we try to make it better. This is another area were I feel we need to step in and take charge due to the lack of natural selection taking over. It's absolutely ludicrous, in my humble opinion, to say this is not a problem. That the Arctic Terns are not a problem, hell, they're not even indigenous to this area. That the Merganser's aren't a problem. That the rafts of 150-250 Cormorants feeding voraciously on smolts isn't a problem. It is a problem. Name me the predator of the Tern, Merganser, Cormorant, and Sea Lion's that are resident to the Columbia river and it's tributaries? Can't! They ain't got one.

Granted, we do need to have this addressed legally and ethically. But in the meantime...... I'm not gonna shed a tear the next time I see a Seagull standing on a bloated Sea Lion carcass floating down the river, too funny.