Today, the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held an oversight hearing on sea lion and seal predation of salmon and steelhead populations in the Pacific Northwest. Subcommittee Chair Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) issued the following statement in response:

"The Pacific Northwest invested decades of work and millions of dollars into resources to develop recovery strategies for anadromous species. Dramatic increases in pinniped populations, which prey on salmon and steelhead, undermine recovery efforts and impact the entire region. This hearing allows us to examine what’s working, where existing authorities fall short, and what additional solutions we must consider to protect salmon, honor tribal treaty rights, and restore balance to the Columbia River Basin."

Background

State, federal and tribal actors have dedicated significant resources towards various strategies to recover threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead populations. Sea lions and seals — also known as pinnipeds — prey on salmon and steelhead and inhabit pinch points on fish migratory paths along the Columbia River and in other watersheds across the Pacific Northwest. Dramatic increases in pinniped populations jeopardize recovery efforts in salmon and steelhead populations.

Many tribes across the region rely on salmon species for cultural and economic purposes. The increase in salmon predation threatens tribes’ reserved treaty rights and ceremonial and subsistence practices.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) prohibits the take of marine mammals and provides limited ability to manage seal and sea lion populations. Such management is integral for executing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Plan for salmon and steelhead. The Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act (Public Law 115-329) was enacted by Congress in 2018 to provide appropriate management tools for pinniped populations by certain state and tribal actors. However, such management is restricted to the Columbia River basin and specific tributaries, leaving the rest of the region largely unmanaged. Today’s hearing provided an opportunity to examine the implementation of the Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act and discuss other potential solutions to this challenge across the Pacific Northwest.