Summary and Response #1

Oyun
EAP2 Writer’s Workshop


To protect or to threat

In “Sea lions show salmon what it really means to be endangered; Wildlife officials in a pickle as one protected species feast on another near dam” the author writes that some part of the Columbia system has a new problem to protect two disappearing species, sea lion and salmon, at one time.

The sea lions are one of the protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, because they were almost disappeared because of some other reasons. Fortunately, the number of identified sea lions has increased because of the successful protection act and large numbers of sea lions travel the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, Oregon Fish and Wildlife department has a new issue to protect other species of fish, especially salmon, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act, after the growth of the sea lion. The serious problem is, one protected species threaten another protected species, and feasts on them, and it is difficult to protect both of them. Furthermore, experts have not found a useful way to deal with that problem; however, they have tried some methods. The most important problem of protection of sea lion and salmon is that every year, the number of sea lions that come at the dam in Bonneville, where salmon gather and spawn at is increasing, and they eat them more than before. That’s why experiments have tried to kick the sea lion out at the dam.

First, they have tried to make the sounds of killer whales, which feast on sea lions, that sea lions will take fright underwater and they chase salmon. However, that is just a temporary way to protect the salmon and not useful, because the sea lion probably would come to back and prey on the salmon again. Second, they have installed a new floating barge for the sea lion to rest on and that barge helps them to leave that dam, and also, when the sea lion rests, they do not chase the salmon. That is useful and a better way to bring the sea lion downriver, and get them to stop staying at the dam. Third, some people think that too many sea lions eat too much salmon, so they have requested for permission to kill some number of sea lion to keep balance between sea lions and salmon. But, some experts are against killing them to solve that problem, because they have done many protection acts to help the sea lion grow. On the other hand, they did not expect the salmon to become extinct.

According to the article, the author shows us a complicated problem to solve and tells about some of the protection acts. As everything has cause and consequences, the successful protection act of the sea lion has become a cause for the number of salmon to declined for years. Leaving those two species in nature without control is a good way to save them, if the protection act does not work to protect both of them. Those animals have existed for a long time in nature without any help of people, and they have always evolved new strategies for survival. That’s why, when we try to protect one species, that action threatens another species.

Reference:

Ritter, J. (2007, April 17). Sea lions show salmon what it really means to be endangered; Wildlife officials in a pickle as one protected species feast on another near dam. USA Today,p11. Retrieved October 24.2008, from LexisNexis.