The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-04-24
THE SEA LIONS
CREATING HAVOC
Causing IncalculabIe Loss to the
River Fishermen.
"A WAR OF ExTERMINATION
win Soon Be Begnn On the Columbia. -.Duil
Of the commonwealth. Receipts Of
Fish for Last Three Days.

The lnroads Of the sea lions and the
seals upon the salmon asherrren has
become so great that the fishermen are
seriously considering a war Of exter-
minatl6n against these enemies.
A gentleman who was fisherman
years ago. but now merchant in this
city, discussed the sea lion question
yesterday afternoon down in the can
merry district and this is what he
said:
Astoria Is a funny town. Not iong
ago the council offered bonus Of FIVE
cents per scalp on rats killed in the
city. The idea was to keep of the
babonlc plague and It was a good idea.
even though the people laughed at it..
Now. as everybody knows. the fish
Ing industry and that includes the
catching and canning, for they can't
can unless they catch-is the one in
dustry that needs every favor the
people Of this town and this section
have TO bestow.
For years the fishermen In the riy-
er have had 10 contend with an Snemy
greater In the water than any they
had on land. the sea lion. These ami
mails follow the salmon, camp on the
trail, as ii were, and wherever you
find a great run OF salmon near the
ocean. there you will 1nd seals and
sea lions by the hundred.
'of course. the seals and sea lions
do not go far up river, hut they con-
gregate at the mouth OF river empty
ing into the sea, and they not on
ly attack and slaughter thousands OF
FISH trying TO enter the river but they
follow the schools up the stream dis
tance and not only kill and drive away
the FISH but cause great loss to the
fishermen by tearing their nets and
eating all the fish caught In them at
the time the sea lions make their on
slaught.
"A good net is worth $3.50 to a fish
erman and to have it torn in pieces in
a night is a loss which but few can
stand.
Now this is the truth. During the
past week sea lions have damaged nets
in the river Off Astoria to the tune Of
buna.aa, - doIIar- aud hoxra tfv,,a Nd
again driven the fish away until the
catch amounted to nothing. In fact,
so bad have the attacks of the sea lions
become that the fishermen have con-
cluded to band themselves together and
exterminate them If they can.
This work is going to cost the fish
ermen both time and money which.
in the end, Astoria and the state at
large will pay for. just as they are now
paying for the refusal to help the fish,
ermen exterminate these pests when 1t
could have been done cheaply. For
years the fishermen on the Columbia
have asked any, every and all par
ties to pass a law providing for a
bounty for killing sea lions. The sea
lions are Of no earthly use. They do
not furnish fur, or meat, or oil, or any
thing else but trouble. Now, If the
state would offer a bounty for the
killing Of sea lions, men would so
out long before the fishing season,
when the seals first appear in these
waters-which, by the way, is always
sign OF the coming of the salmon
and would kill off the pests before
the fish began to run and afterwards.
For the first and second seasons such
a bounty would probably cost the state
some little money but that would end
the matter and the few thousands of
dollars expended in bounty for killing
seals and sea lions, would come back
in the way of thousands of dollars in
the increased catch of fish.
Some day, some party" said the
old man, will advocate boSnty bill
and when it does, every fisherman on
the river will vote its ticket"
There is no question but that the
seals and sea lions are playing havoc
with the nets this season. Hardly
day passes without scores of nets being
lifted" to patch sea lion holes. Some
thing must be done to stop the dam
age but just what nobody seems to
know.
The catch on Sunday was, as usual,
very light. In fact, in a general way,
the close of last week did not bear out
the promise Of the commencement. The
fish caught Saturday and Sunday were
larger than those previously netted
but there We're not so many of them.
All the canneries are increasing their
fleets of boats and this is an indica-
tion that the catch has been salts