Oregon Wildlife Officials Seeking Permission to Kill Seabirds to Save Salmon
OutdoorHub Reporters 05.01.12
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) is asking for special permission from the federal government to shoot and kill a bird protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in order to save salmon. Oregon wildlife officials claim the double-crested cormorant eats millions of baby salmon as they try to reach the ocean, significantly depleting stocks of the endangered fish.
In 2008, Oregon was legally granted the permission to kill a limited number of sea lions that feed on the fish as they go upriver to spawn. The Associated Press obtained an April 5 letter from DFW Division Administrator Ron Anglin to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in which Anglin says that harassment of the birds has “proved insufficient” and therefore officials are seeking the option of thinning the flock.
Anglin further elaborated that in addition to inhibiting restoration of endangered wild salmon, cormorants are also harming fish in hatcheries bred for recreational and commercial fishing.
Oregon would like to reduce the cormorant’s numbers by 10 percent. Approximately 70,000 cormorants reside along the Pacific coast of Oregon. After the birds were added to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1972, their population rose considerably.
Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a plan to reduce the impact of cormorants on young salmon, though it is unclear whether killing cormorants will be a part of the plan.
If the appeal is approved, Oregon will join 28 other states that are authorized to kill cormorants to protect their state’s natural resources.
