A bull sea lion in the river today. Unusual this time of year, as salmon are not running, to my knowledge. Perhaps he is after sturgeon. We are about 85 miles upstream from the ocean. 

Fishers hate them because they eat “their” salmon. They do like to park themselves at the base of Willamette Falls or Bonneville Dam when the fish are running and have easy dinners. But they were feasting on salmon for countless millennia before European settlers arrived here, and the salmon were so plentiful the rivers were almost black with them. So where do we point the finger?? I suspect that the indigenous people who netted and speared salmon at the falls would have been happy to harpoon a sea lion (800 pounds of meat and fat) if they could, so that probably was a disincentive to their predation. Perhaps we should authorize them do it again? Anyway, always a thrill to see one here. One some occasions I have seen one with a large salmon or sturgeon in its mouth. They always seem eager to flap it around for a while so everyone can see what a great catch it was.