Tippets: Moving Sea Lions to Save Steelhead, Call for Ban on Steelhead Fishing in Idaho Rivers, 2017 National Environmental Scorecard

March 7, 2018 By: Erin Block

  • In an effort to protect a particularly fragile steelhead run, Oregon wildlife managers are trapping sea lions at Willamette Falls and trucking them out to the coast. “Biologists estimate the sea lions at Willamette Falls are eating at least a quarter of the winter steelhead run. At that rate, they say, there’s about a 90 percent chance at least one population of the fish will go extinct.” Via Oregon Public Broadcasting.
  • A conservation group, The Conservation Angler, has called for a ban on steelhead fishing in the Columbia and Snake river basins to protect runs of wild steelhead. In a letter to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Executive Director David Moskowitz writes: “Please close the fisheries in order to allow wild B-runs to spawn in their natal rivers and put some more wild fish ‘in the bank’ — so to speak — of Idaho’s great rivers.” Via Oregon Live.
  • The League of Conservation Voters has released their 2017 National Environmental Scorecard. “The Scorecard represents the consensus of experts from about 20 respected environmental and conservation organizations who select the key votes on which members of Congress should be scored.”