Tuesday March 19, 2024
KATU —
We have new information about a large group of sea lions that are turning heads in north Portland.
NOAA says they could start being removed in the next couple of weeks. The animals have gathered near a dock on Hayden Island.
They’ve wandered up the Columbia River looking for food to eat and that’s bad news for salmon and fishermen.
For years, the sea lions were protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, but those rules were amended in recent decades, in favor of the fish.
Data showed that sea lions were consuming up to half of the Columbia River spring Chinook run.