Unwanted fisherman

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Tom

Tom

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Chris looked out the window this afternoon and saw a seal in our bay. We often see seals that have wandered upriver from San Francisco Bay, but rarely after February. They usually feed gorge on the striped bass in the California Delta, and chase the schools away.

I grabbed my camera, but wasn't able to snap a picture when s/he surfaced again. I have pictures from earlier years around here somewhere, although they're not very clear. Meanwhile, striper fishing will be the pits until the school returns.
 
Same problem with seals where the Rogue River empties into the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach, OR when the salmon begin their run up the river at various times of the year. 

Margi
 
Margi, I can't begin to imagine the seals gorging on salmon, especially in the estuary. We're a long way upriver, so we only see the wayward seals. They'll usually hang out on the navigation buoys in the river.
 

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Interesting discussion, thanks for the link. I'm surprised we haven't seen/heard more discussions like that. When we enter the Monterey Harbor, there's always several large 'pods' of seals right there.
 
Not uncommon for then to be just below the Bonneville dam on the Columbia.  That is about 100 river miles away from the ocean.  They would be farther except for the dam.  Personally even if they are protected once they get 20 miles away from salt water they should be fair game.
 
Interesting articles, Pierat.  Thanks.  The first one, in particular, describes the problem very well.  As life-long sports fishermen, Tom and I are rooting for the salmon, steehead and sturgeon.  ;)

Margi
 
However, the biggest threat to the spawning salmon are the dams along the Columbia river. This is the river with the most dams in all of the USA. In order to get across the dams to their spawning sites, half of the salmon never make it. In my opinion we humans are the bigger threat and not the sea lions. They just do what sea lions do.
 
mariekie4 said:
However, the biggest threat to the spawning salmon are the dams along the Columbia river. This is the river with the most dams in all of the USA. In order to get across the dams to their spawning sites, half of the salmon never make it. In my opinion we humans are the bigger threat and not the sea lions. They just do what sea lions do.
Click to expand...

That's true, but also true of many, many rivers in the west which also have dams.  Without those dams, the power they generate, the flooding they prevent, and the irrigation water they provide, the west would be a much different place. 

This is not, and never has been, an easy issue to resolve. 

Margi
 
You are correct Margi, there are very few wild rivers left in this country, never mind the west! And I agree this is not an easy situation to resolve. But we have to admit, that in order to try and "manage" nature, we have created incredible problems in the big picture, causing a huge imbalance.

Marie
 
mariekie4 said:
You are correct Margi, there are very few wild rivers left in this country, never mind the west! And I agree this is not an easy situation to resolve. But we have to admit, that in order to try and "manage" nature, we have created incredible problems in the big picture, causing a huge imbalance.

Marie
Click to expand...

Yes, that is certainly true.  But we must also keep in mind the needs and welfare of humans while we are seeking that oh so elusive balance of nature.

Margi
 
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