Salmon hogs need to be kept in check

I have lived here all my life — 70 years — and I am or have been an avid sportsman since I was old enough to possess a hunting and fishing license. I came from poor, hard-working parents. The Northwest supplied a lot of our food — clams, oysters, crabs, bottom fish and salmon.

A few years ago I did some research and the information I gathered was directly from the Washington state game biologist. He informed me that approximately 1,500 seals and sea lions are in Washington waters year round, and when the salmon return, approximately another 1,000 to 2,500 sea lions come into our waters. Their sole purpose is to eat salmon.

Years ago my uncle, who was a commercial fisherman his whole life, told me that one seal or sea lion will kill up to 30 salmon a day — that is the same number given to me by the marine biologist.

A few years back, a sea lion we named Herschel and a few of his friends nearly wiped out our Green River sockeye run that took the University of Washington about 20 years to grow. When we have a problem with coyotes, rabbits, bears and cougars, we put a bounty on them to keep nature in control.

I don’t know anybody in the lower 49 states who eat seal or sea lions but nearly everyone I know eats salmon. Maybe you can tell me why we protect an animal that is placing our salmon on the endangered species list. Those people who shoot the sea lions that wash up on the beaches of Seattle should not be given fines for killing those predators. They should be given rewards. These seals and sea lions have not been on the endangered list since the late ’50s or ’60s. When there are no salmon or steelhead to kill, they kill our bottom fish and even kill crabs.

Nature cannot check the expansion of these creatures as there are no orcas or white sharks, which are a natural predator to seals and lions. It is rare to see orcas in our inland waters. I personally think they don’t like the polluted waters.

Mike Alf

Arlington