The Irish standard., 1901-07-13
War on the Sea Lions.


Fishermen of the North Pacific coast
are undertaking movement for the
destruction of the sea lions, the invete-
r:ltc enemies Of salmon and other food
fishes. and which annually make in
calculslblc ravages in the schools of
Chinooks. steclheads. and other varie-
ties OF salmon that hover off the Ore
gon and Washington coast The last
Oregon legislature passed bill offer
ing Il bounty of $3.50 for each sea lion
Killed in the waters of the state or
within one marine league of the Ore
gon shore Faulty wording of the bill
renders the money set aside for the
purposes unavailable. and the Fisher
mems Protective Union has raised a
fund by private subscription to hire
men to shoot the lions at their breed
ing grounds
How many salmon each of these
monsters kill each day is purely mat
ter of conjecture, but instances are
known where a single lion has killed
and eaten eighteen salmon within a
very few minutes. and it is certain that
many hundreds Of thousands of ROYAL
Chinook salmon are killed every wear
by these pests. When fishing the lions
usually travel in groups of from six to
eight. and they follow a school of fish
Tor days. 1Nhcy feast on the fish until
they become quite dainty and will take
but one bite from tire choicest part of
the salmon. leaving the remainder of
the fish to float ashore or to he do
Foured by the scavengcrs of tire seas.
The lions vary in size, but when fully
grown average about eight or ten feet
in length, although specimens have
been seen fully eighteen feet long and
which would weigh 1000 pounds
1t is during the summer months that
the lions do the greatest amount OF
damage. They are numerous ut many
places along the Pacific coast, but
their favorite rendezvous appears to be
in the neishborhood of the mouth Of
the Columbia river. Thousands of them
congreghte at Seal Rock Light House
during the breeding season. These
rocks are situated well out from the
beach and can be reached only during
the extreme low tides Of the summer
months. thus rendering the retreat of
the lions comparatively safe from at
tack except during isolated periods.
After leaving the rocks at the close of
the breeding season the lions are even
more vomcious than usual. and the
schools OF fish in that region of the
ocean have short shrift. Numbers of
the lions gather off the mouth of the
columbia river, and the sands of the
1etty are black with them during the
warm hours Of the day. The huge
mammals appear to be warned by in
stlnct of the approach of school of
salmon. which is always the signal
for a hurried putting to sea, and be-
fore the return thousands of the choic-
est fish in the world have been
devoured or so badly mutilated that
they will die. Commercially the sea
lions are of little value, and not enough
can be realized from their sale to make
the killing of them profitable
This coupled with the extreme diff
Guilty of securing the carcasscs of the
animals, as the lions take to the water
as soon as they are shot, makes the
hunting Il DrecariOus means of liycli-
hood and renders it absolutely neccs
sa1y that bounty be paid IL the lions
are to be eXterminated. The hides.
which weigh when green about 20
pounds. sell for half a cent pound.
The whiskcrs Of the male sell for
from 10 to 13 cents for the largest,
which are from 10 to 12 inches in
length. Those Of the female are fewer
in number and less valuable, but long
or. some reaching 1S inches in length.
A vast amount Of valuable fishing
gear is destroyed each year by the
lions. A big male lion, wlrle in pursuit
of a salmon, will become cntangled in
a gill net or trap, and before it can
possibly be released, will by it's dcspc-
rate lashngs and biting, tear the web
into slrcds. The amount of damage
done each season would be difficult to
estimate, but it is certainly enormous,
and their utter determination at the
least would lie Of untold benefit to the
fishing industry of the coast.
The American Flag.