Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife killed its first fish-eating California sea lion of 2010 Wednesday after capturing it by Bonneville Dam.
The department, working with the state of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, first started killing California sea lions by lethal injection last year.
In 2009, biologists euthanized 11 California sea lions identified as repeatedly dining near the Columbia River dam's fish ladders and transferred four others to a zoo or aquarium. This year, no zoos or aquariums have agreed to take sea lions, ODFW spokeswoman Jessica Sall said.
The sea lion killed Wednesday was one of 64 California sea lions on a NOAA-approved list of animals eligible to be euthanized because they've been repeatedly spotted eating salmon, Sall said. Biologists have seen the animal for the past seven years at the dam, she said.
The Columbia is home to multiple runs of endangered and threatened wild salmon and steelhead, and is the focus of a multi-billion-dollar salmon restoration effort.
The sea lions feast mainly on spring chinook, both hatchery-raised and wild. The animals gather at Bonneville's fish ladders, where the fish are easy pickings.
Opponents say the sea lions do relatively little damage to fish runs compared to fishermen and the dams themselves and new animals will replace those captured and killed.
In Defense of Animals and the Sea Lion Defense Brigade are planning a demonstration against the killings at noon today near the dam, the first on the salmon's run to their spawning grounds. The sea lion killed Wednesday was named "Lionel" last year by students at Oregon City's Redland Elementary School, the activist groups said.