74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .
 
 LC 2828
 
                    Senate Joint Memorial 15
 
Sponsored by Senators L GEORGE, BEYER (at the request of Oregon
  Sportsmen's Association, Oregon Anglers)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Urges United States Secretary of Commerce to approve tri-state
application regarding lethal removal of California sea lions from
Columbia River as means of protecting salmon and steelhead that
are threatened or endangered.
 
                         JOINT MEMORIAL
To the United States Secretary of Commerce:
  We, your memorialists, the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
  Whereas salmon and steelhead are listed as threatened or
endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and
  Whereas California sea lions are having a significant negative
impact on the recovery of salmon and steelhead in the Pacific
Northwest; and
  Whereas the Oregon State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Idaho
Department of Fish and Game, in cooperation with the National
Marine Fisheries Service and the United States Army Corps of
Engineers, have conducted a great deal of research to document
and track this growing problem as well as two years of
unsuccessful nonlethal tests and programs to reduce the number of
sea lions and their predation rates; and
  Whereas the Oregon State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Idaho
Department of Fish and Game have concluded that a lethal removal
option is necessary to gain control of the sea lion situation and
reduce the risk of increasing the predation losses; and
  Whereas the Oregon State Department of Fish and Wildlife, the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Idaho
Department of Fish and Game have submitted a tri-state
application to the National Marine Fisheries Service for the
intentional lethal removal of California sea lions; and
  Whereas the United States Secretary of Commerce, acting through
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Assistant
Administrator for Fisheries, determined that the states'
application contained sufficient information to warrant
establishing a Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force; and
  Whereas this Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force has
requested public comment relating to the application to allow the
intentional lethal removal of California sea lions as a means of
protecting salmon and steelhead that are threatened or
endangered; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  That the Seventy-fourth Legislative Assembly respectfully urges
the United States Secretary of Commerce to approve the tri-state
application with the utmost expedience; and be it further
  Resolved, That a copy of this memorial shall be sent to the
United States Secretary of Commerce and to each member of the
Oregon Congressional Delegation.
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