Each summer thousands of salmon can be seen shooting upstream at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon and into Washington state. Sea lions congregate there. They think of the salmon migration as a buffet.
Sea lions are protected species, but salmon are endangered. Wildlife regulators don't want sea lions to gorge themselves on endangered salmon. For a time, the National Marine Fisheries Service was authorized to shoot any sea lion with a salmon dangling from its mouth. A bill has recently been introduced in Congress to allow the killing to start again.
The sea lions' salmon-eating habit was first noticed in the early part of the last decade, Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Rob Manning tells Weekend Edition host Scott Simon. Manning, who has been following the story, says active removal of sea lions began in 2007 to protect the salmon.
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