Washington and Oregon won authorization from NOAA -  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - to kill sea lions eating salmon at the Bonneville Dam.

Please, ask NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to accept that Sea Lions are protected by the Marine Mammal Protecion Act, and therefore, they should not allow fishermen to kill them.

Tell NOAA as well as Oregon and Washington Fish and Wildlife Department
to change their decision now!

"Sea lion predation represents only 2.4 percent of the salmon run this year", said Sharon Young, marine mammal issues field director for the Humane Society.

The Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit to protect the sea lions in 2008 - and won. We are happy to announce that they filed a new lawsuit again today, May 20, 2011.

We hope that all our efforts will help to stop killings of Sea Lions.

We are the ones who are overfishing our waters and, therefore, we should adopt new rules for reasonable fishing instead of killing innocent animals:

"Man-made dams and reservoirs threaten salmon numbers in the wild by blocking their paths, creating obstacles for young salmon heading for the ocean and adult salmon returning to their spawning grounds. Overfishing, habitat loss, and a number of changing environmental conditions also continue to affect many salmon populations. For instance, rising river temperatures have been connected to an increase in marine illnesses that adversely affect salmon growth."

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/salmon-running-the-gauntlet/salmon-facts/6558/​

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/sea-lion-killing-oregon-washington_n_862496.html​

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/us-sealions-oregon-idUSTRE74C7AI20110513

In addition to signing the petition, you can also contact officials at:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
Washington, DC 20230
email:  pr.webmaster@noaa.gov

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department 
The ODFW Commission
3406 Cherry Avenue N.E.
Salem, OR 97303-4924 email: odfw.info@state.or.us

Washington Fish and Wildlife Department
600 Capitol Way N.
Olympia, WA 98501-1091
director@dfw.wa.gov