“This goes down as one of the really significant failures in wildlife management in recent decades.” PORTLAND, Oregon––Cormorant massacres at East Sand Island, near the mouth of the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington, not only did not save any salmon and steelhead from predation in 2015 through 2017, but may have tripled predation losses, […]
Why killing predators won’t bring back the salmon
Gulls join sea lions, seals, & cormorants in the crosshairs VICTORIA, British Columbia; PORTLAND, Oregon––Blaming seals and sea lions for declining salmon stocks, Pacific Balance Pinniped Society founder Thomas Sewid is frustrated these days because, Sewid posted to Facebook on January 23, 2019, “My firearm possession and acquisition license is expired. I cannot hunt […]
Frustrated fishers push to kill West Coast sea lions & seals
Newly formed Pacific Balance Pinnipeds Society gives voice to anger VANCOUVER, B.C.; PORTLAND, Oregon––Removing a longtime irritant to the British Columbia wild salmon fishing industry––and a major economic competitor––the British Columbia government and First Nations have agreed to phase out 17 commercial salmon farms operated since 1987 by a company called Marine Harvest off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. The […]
Feds illegally shot cormorants but can keep killing, judge rules
Judge holds that inability to resurrect dead fish trumps inability to resurrect dead birds PORTLAND, Oregon––Rendering a long-awaited verdict on the legality of killing double crested cormorants to protect salmon spawning runs on the Columbia River, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon on August 31, 2016 ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers […]
Feds kill 2,400 cormorants but claim why colony fled nests is a mystery
Sea lions are meanwhile killed upstream PORTLAND, Oregon––Hiring USDA Wildlife Services to kill double-crested cormorants near the mouth of the Columbia River, while other agencies killed sea lions beneath the Bonneville Dam, nominally to protect chinook salmon runs on behalf of sport fishers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on May 19, 2016 admitted […]
Cormorant killers shoot the bird to D.C. judicial ruling
Pretext for killing shot down in court PORTLAND, Oregon––Rushing to kill double-crested cormorants before opponents of the killing could get to court, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and USDA Wildlife Services on April 7, 2016 opened fire near East Sand Island, near the mouth of the Columbia River. “Federal agents in boats are using […]
Cormorant massacre underway
by Bob Sallinger, Audubon Society of Portland Further to my ANIMALS 24-7 posting of September 14, 2015, Feds resume killing cormorants despite admitting “nesting population targets were met, for the past two weeks, federal government employees from the Wildlife Services office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been shooting double-crested cormorants from a boat […]
Feds resume killing cormorants despite admitting “nesting population targets were met”
by Bob Sallinger, conservation director, Audubon Society of Portland Last week the federal government resumed killing double-crested cormorants on East Sand Island in the Columbia River Estuary. Federal agents in boats used shotguns to kill 200 cormorants near the island. The Corps has indicated that it intends to continue killing cormorants in the coming weeks. […]
Feds hid data showing that killing cormorants will not help salmon & steelhead
Ignored own study in pushing cormorant massacre PORTLAND, Oregon––Obtaining U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service research showing that killing cormorants near the mouth of the Columbia River would have no beneficial outcome for salmon and steelhead, the Audubon Society of Portland, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund and Wildlife Center […]
Barred owls on the hit list
Feds say they compete with endangered northern spotted owls PORTLAND, Oregon––Barred owls are on the federal hit list at 100 West Coast locations, from San Francisco Bay to the Canadian border, because conservationists more than 30 years ago opted to make the northern spotted owl the poster bird for forest conservation. Officially, the U.S. Fish […]