Sea Lions, Lamprey, Sturgeon

You know I have always had an affinity for sea lions as I watch them on nature programs basking in the sun. Always feel sorry for them when you see them on the coast of Africa diving into the water and being taken by a great white or an orca. But Oregon fisherman Rob Maxey tells a bit of a different story.

Honestly, the big picture in the last couple of years because they have been able to deal with the animals at the pinch points, at the fish ladders.

What was their primary target? Steelhead and salmon?

Yeah. Not only did they get the steelhead and the salmon that are going through there, but other things that you really don't think about.

The lampreys, the lamprey was a huge Native American source, and they would just sit there, right there and key up at the head of the ladders and kill everything that comes through. Sturgeon, also the great big sturgeon, those things take 80 to 100 years to mature. And that was a big thing that they were doing, was killing the sturgeon. So all the fish tend to keg up there at the bottom of the dams. And it's such a pinch point that it's a really good fishing for the seals and sea lions. They are sea lions. They don't really hunt as much as they steal from other people. So they're so aggressive. And so they're still are incidents of the seals and sea lions jump up on docks and into boats and taking stuff away from people.

So maybe I wanna rethink my affinity. Thanks, Rob, for the update.