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Support Salmon Recovery Options That Don't Involve Killing Predators by Cindy R. Elliser Bellingham Herald, July 30, 2026

Pinnipeds are incorrectly being targeted
as the scapegoat for salmon recovery

Seals and sea lions (collectively known as pinnipeds) are not the primary reason for salmon population declines in the Pacific Northwest. The idea that the widespread lethal removal of these species, as suggested in the new bill H.R. 9621 -- Northwest Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act of 2026, will meaningfully increase salmon populations is not supported by science.

Pinniped populations are not exploding; they have been stable for at least the last two decades after they recovered from overharvest under the protections of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Salmon populations have continued to struggle and decline during the past 20 years, without an increase in pinniped numbers.

Peer-reviewed research and federal recovery plans list the following as the priority actions needed to increase salmon abundance: habitat restoration, fish passage (remove dams and barriers), addressing climate change, reforming harvest management, reforming hatcheries, utilizing tribal partnerships and traditional ecological knowledge and landscape-scale coordination. Removing thousands of pinnipeds is notably not mentioned anywhere in these priority actions. Habitat restoration in particular is key. For example, in the Columbia River system, at least 40% of the spawning and rearing habitat is blocked by dams. Without that habitat, any other actions taken to reduce impacts to salmon populations will be less effective, or not effective at all.

This type of intervention has already been tried in the past as well. There was a bounty program for harbor seals in the 1960s, with thousands killed in a misguided effort to reduce competition with fisheries. There is no scientific evidence that this program had any positive impact on salmon populations. One reason is because pinnipeds are opportunistic feeders, consuming over 60 different prey species, with salmon being a low percentage. Many of their prey (like hake) are actually salmon predators themselves. Without pinnipeds those salmon predators could increase, putting more, not less pressure on salmon populations. Research shows there are differences in pinniped diet composition depending on many factors including year, location, gender, age and reproductive status; and estimates (and their confidence intervals) of how much they consume vary widely. Yet the highest possible rates are what are cited in policy discussions, despite that large uncertainty. These relationships are still being studied and need to be understood before taking such extreme measures of indiscriminate removals.

There are many examples of cascading environmental damage that can be done when removing large numbers of top predators from the environment. Wolves in Yellowstone and sea otters and kelp beds are perhaps the most iconic of these stories: remove a keystone species, the whole ecosystem suffers. Seals and sea lions are similarly important top predators within a complex and interconnected ecosystem. Removing them will have unknown and unintended consequences.

Salmon recovery is undeniably important, and it is critical to note that targeted, limited removals and Tribal harvest are fundamentally different from what is being proposed in this bill. This is calling for widespread killing of multiple species over a large area. This undermines the intent of the MMPA that has protected and recovered many marine mammal populations, and supported healthier ecosystems, for over 50 years. Altering the MMPA with this type of open-ended language could open doors to include other species and locations in the United States and is a slippery slope to devastating effects on our coastal ecosystems, undoing years of hard-fought conservation that has helped species and ecosystems recover.

Seals and sea lions are incorrectly being targeted as the scapegoat for salmon recovery. There is too much scientific uncertainty of the effect of pinniped predation on salmon populations to risk doing something so widespread as this bill calls for. There is no clear evidence that it will provide the benefits being proposed, and there are too many potential negative consequences that outweigh any potential benefits. More time and money should be spent on the priority actions that are scientifically supported as the primary factors affecting salmon population declines, and will have the most return on investment for salmon populations, and the ecosystem as a whole.

Related Pages:
Feds Greenlight Killing More Sea Lions to Protect
Endangered Salmon as Controversy Fades by Henry Brannan, Washington State Standard, 9/15/25
Sea Lion Removals Continue as Agencies Seek to Extend Permit by K.C. Mehaffey, NW Fishletter, 5/14/25
Sea Lions Threaten Salmon Runs as Removal Efforts at Bonneville Dam Face Funding Limits by Staff, KATU, 3/25/25
Bonneville Sea Lion Removal Operations Ongoing, Just 2 Culled by Andy Walgamott, Northwest Sportsman, 4/28/23
Battle Over Endangered Fish has Led Oregon to Cull Sea Lions by Staff, KGW, 4/11/23
Report: Sea Lion Abundance Drops, But 'Sustained Impacts' to Fish Remain by K.C. Mehaffey, NW Fishletter, 3/13/22
Sea Lions Threaten Northwest's Salmon by Lauren Ellenbecker, The Columbian, 2/17/22
Sea Lions, Seals Might be Hampering WA Salmon Recovery. What Can Be Done? by Isabella Breda, Seattle Times, 1/15/23
Report Raises Question of Hunting Seals to Save Washington Salmon by Timothy Schumann, The Center Square, 12/19/22
Scientists: Let's Test Removing Salmon-eating Seals, Sea Lions by Don Jenkins, Capital Press, 11/23/22
NMFS Authorizes Sea Lion Removals to Save Columbia River Salmon by Lynda Mapes, National Fisherman, 8/27/20
Hundreds of Sea Lions to be Killed on Columbia River in Effort to Save Endangered Fish by Lynda Mapes, Seattle Times, 8/15/20
Criteria for Killing Salmon-eating Sea Lions Reduced at Bonneville Dam on Columbia by Keith Ridler, Statesman Journal, 5/3/19
ESA Winter Steelhead Impacted by Prolonged Steller Sea Lion Presence at Bonneville Dam by Staff, Columbia Basin Bulletin, 2/1/19
So Far, Sea Lions at Bonneville Dam Below 10-Year by K.C. Mehaffey, NW Fishletter, 5/14/25
Sea Lions Threaten Salmon Runs as Removal Efforts at Bonneville Dam Face Funding Limits by Staff, KATU, 3/25/25
Bonneville Sea Lion Removal Operations Ongoing, Just 2 Culled by Andy Walgamott, Northwest Sportsman, 4/28/23
Report: Sea Lion Abundance Drops, But 'Sustained Impacts' to Fish Remain by K.C. Mehaffey, NW Fishletter, 3/13/22
Sea Lions, Seals Might be Hampering WA Salmon Recovery. What Can Be Done? by Isabella Breda, Seattle Times, 1/15/23
Scientists: Let's Test Removing Salmon-eating Seals, Sea Lions by Don Jenkins, Capital Press, 11/23/22
NMFS Authorizes Sea Lion Removals to Save Columbia River Salmon by Lynda Mapes, National Fisherman, 8/27/20
Hundreds of Sea Lions to be Killed on Columbia River in Effort to Save Endangered Fish by Lynda Mapes, Seattle Times, 8/15/20
Criteria for Killing Salmon-eating Sea Lions Reduced at Bonneville Dam on Columbia by Keith Ridler, Statesman Journal, 5/3/19
ESA Winter Steelhead Impacted by Prolonged Steller Sea Lion Presence at Bonneville Dam by Staff, Columbia Basin Bulletin, 2/1/19
Senate Passes Bill Making it Easier to Kill Sea Lions on Pacific Northwest River by Phuong Le, KSL.com, 12/8/18
Hunters Demand Quota to Cull Thousands of Seals to Save Salmon Population Along B.C.'s Coast by Jenny Peng, Star Vancouver, 8/2/18
Northwest Tribes may Soon Have Right to Kill Sea Lions by Katy Sword, The Columbian, 8/1/18
One State's Plan to Save a Protected Species is to Kill Another Species by Karin Brulliard, The Dalles Chronicle, 6/11/18
Latest Bi-Weekly Pinniped Report Shows Decline in Steller, California Sea Lions at Bonneville Dam by Staff, Columbia Basin Bulletin, 6/1/18