States will review Steller sea lion biological opinion

The states of Alaska and Washington will conduct a review of a recent biological opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service concerning the impact of groundfish fisheries on Steller sea lions, the states said in a joint announcement Feb. 1. Top fish and wildlife officials for both states said they will assemble a panel of scientists to determine whether the federal agency used all relevant scientific information and impartially considered those facts in the final biological opinion for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries issued in November. The biological opinion evaluated the impact of those fisheries on the western population of Steller sea lions, and served as the basis for significant fishery closures and restrictions in the western Aleutians that went into effect Jan. 1. Both states recently petitioned for the removal of the eastern sea lion populations from the Endangered Species list, based on steady increases over the past two decades alongside fisheries in Southeast Alaska, and throughout British Columbia, Washington state and Oregon. Evidence is available to indicate that factors other than fishing are likely responsible for the apparent lack of growth in these few colonies, such as predation by killer whales or changes in the environment, the states said in their joint statement.