Under provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, we received a formal request in late 2006 from Oregon, Washington and Idaho to authorize those states to kill certain California sea lions below Bonneville Dam that are eating at-risk federally protected salmon and steelhead.

As one important step in considering that request and as a requirement of the marine-mammal law, in 2007 we appointed an 18-member task force to consider the states’ application and make recommendations. The task force submitted its report to us later in 2007. In 2008 we announced our approval of the states' request to remove California sea lions that feed on ESA-listed salmon in the Columbia River Basin.

We reconvened the task force in 2010 to review the accumulated data and evaluate the effectiveness of the program to lethally remove sea lions. We again reconvened the task force in October 2011 to review the states' latest application (PDF 885KB) for California sea lion removal authority.

Nov. 15, 2011:  We released the 2011 Pinniped – Fishery Interaction Task Force Report (PDF 166KB)

Dec. 21, 2010: We released the 2010 Pinniped – Fishery Interaction Task Force Report.

• Media Statement
• Task Force 2010 Report (PDF 87KB)
• Link to 2010 Pinniped – Fishery Interaction Task Force materials

Nov. 7, 2007: We released the 2007 Pinniped – Fishery Interaction Task Force Report.

• Task Force 2007 Report (PDF 82KB)
• Appendix A, Task Force Protocols (PDF 42KB)
• Appendix B, Minority Opinion (PDF 29KB)
• Appendix C, Agendas & Meeting Notes (PDF 353KB)
• Appendix D, Table 3.3 (PDF 212KB)
• Appendix E, List of Presentations (PDF 21KB)
• Appendix F, List of Attendees (PDF 28KB)
• Appendix G, List of Federal Register & Media Notices (PDF 43KB)
• Appendix H, List of Documents Provided (PDF 17KB)