The proposal would allow the disposal of up to 85 animals per year, but scientists are only projecting that 30 would actually be killed. The goal is to prevent the sea lions from consuming more than 1% of the salmon which pass through the dam.

Some have speculated that killing sea lions (which now number over 238,000 on the West coast of the United States) would simply create opportunity for more sea lions to fill their place.

Sharon Young, the lone dissenting member of the panel which made this recommendation, argues that fishing and the dam itself pose a much greater risk to salmon than the sea lions. "What it's mainly going to do is kill some sea lions out of frustration without dealing with the more serious problems facing the fish," she said.