For years now, the return of salmon to the rivers of the Pacific Northwest has symbolised one of North America’s native migrations. However, at the base of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, salmon’s annual journey has also created a conservation dilemma as California sea lions have discovered that the dam acts as a bottleneck, concentrating thousands of migrating salmon in a confined area, thus creating an easy feeding ground for them. With the endangered salmon population declining, wildlife managers are faced with a difficult question of whether they should protect a federally safeguarded marine mammal or intervene to conserve imperilled fish.
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