Jack,
I saw the Ballard Locks fiasco first hand. After all these years my blood still boils at how that was handled. The public came to believe that slaughtering the sea lion population was the issue. There was little or no rational discussion of the problem in the media.

Skipping 99% of the rant, all that would have been necessary would have been to shoot and kill maybe one sea lion, with the other sea lions present to see it happen. Instead of dragging him out of sight so the public would be spared the sight of his carcass, the carcass needed to be anchored in the most prominent spot, from the sea lion point of view. Sea lions are smart. You don't need to shoot them all!

If necessary, to re-inforce the message of the anchored carcass, a volunteer (me or one of a 1000 other steelheaders) would have been glad to stand at the locks with a shot gun and pepper any sea lions that showed up with bird shot to remind them that the locks were a very dangerous place.

Sea lion problem solved. No mass slaughter of sea lions required.

It's no point now to go into all the fiddle farting around which took place (for years!)while the Steelhead run went functional extinct. It was unbelievable! And it was a disgrace. An absolute disgrace. A healthy Steelhead run right in the middle of Seattle, a priceless asset, was allowed to go extinct for no reason other than cowardice and pandering.
SS