257 

 DRAFT 



'...it is possible, ihough speculative, that if Oregon Indians in the past 

 kept seal and sea lion populations low, then the present rate of marine 

 mammal predation on Oregon salmonids may be at historically high 

 levels. ' (emphasis added) 



As the authors' themselves state, it is speculation to suggest that Oregon Indians kept 

 seal and sea lion numbers low. It could equally be true, and may be more likely, that 

 pinniped numbers were higher before white men inhabited the west coast and began to 

 hunt, harvest pinnipeds (including bounty harvest), harvest fish (pinniped prey) and 

 alter freshwater fish habitat. 



Competition (page 1 15) 



Seals and Sea Lions (pages 115-116) 



This section of the report contains questionable calculations of prey consumption by 

 pinnipeds; this time presenting pinnipeds as competitors with salmonids for herring. 

 These questionable calculations suggest that by eating herring, Oregon pinnipeds are 

 responsible for the loss of more salmonids than sportsmen caught in all Oregon coastal 

 streams in 1990. 



The report continues to develop questionable estimates of salmonid losses because of 

 dietary overlap between salmonids and other fish, pinnipeds, and birds. Questionable 

 multipliers and energy conversion rates are applied to arrive at ambiguous and likely 

 erroneous results. 



'The point of this discussion is not to determine the degree of 

 competition that salmonids experience in the ocean, but to draw attention 

 to its existence and scope. ' 



The discussion does not provide the level of scientific accuracy necessary to evaluate 

 the "scope" of these competitive interactions. These interactions are natural biological 

 processes that have occuned for millions of years. No information is presented to 

 document that these intenu:tions have increasied, or that these interactions are playing a 

 significant role in the decline of Oregon's salmonids. 



'And finally, the recent increases in pinniped populations suggest a 

 commensurate increase in competition with salmonids to a level that did 

 not exist in the recent past. This increase in competition could be 

 contributing to the recent decline in the abundance of Oregon 

 salmonids. ' 



As was discussed previously, the report does not provide any scientific evidence to 

 conclude that marine mammal abundance has increased above natural historic levels, or 



A-Sl 



