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Washington House Voted to Ask Congress to Broaden Pinniped Management, Including Lethal Removal

A harbour seal pup resting on a rock beside calm water in Puget Sound, Washington
Conservation · Management

The Washington, USA House of Representatives voted 80–16 on 29 January 2026 to support a request for wider management authority over seals and sea lions that prey on endangered salmon. House Joint Memorial 4004 asks the United States Congress to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act so states and tribes could use additional adaptive-management tools, including lethal removal, along all Washington marine shorelines and in Puget Sound.

Under existing federal rules described in the legislature’s bill report, a state may apply to NOAA Fisheries to remove individually identifiable pinnipeds that harm certain protected salmon stocks or fish passing through the Ballard Locks. The application is reviewed by a specialist task force that also considers nonlethal alternatives. Under this process, authorised lethal taking is capped at 1% of the stock’s potential biological removal level (PBR), a federal measure of how much human-caused mortality a marine-mammal stock can sustain while still reaching an optimum sustainable population.

A 2018 amendment created a separate, broader process for sea lions in parts of the Columbia River and its tributaries. It can apply to any sea lion rather than only California sea lions and allows a maximum take of 10% of PBR, but it did not extend the same authority to other pinnipeds such as harbour seals (Phoca vitulina). HJM 4004 asks Congress to allow broader adaptive management of pinniped predators beyond those river provisions, explicitly covering Washington’s marine shorelines and Puget Sound. The memorial does not itself set a new numerical removal limit or authorise any killing.

Supporters told the House committee that pinniped predation impedes salmon recovery and that states and tribes need more management options. Opponents argued that non-lethal methods and other salmon-recovery measures should be prioritised, and said the available evidence did not show that broader pinniped removal would produce a large benefit for salmon.

After passing the House, the memorial was referred to the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on 2 February. The Senate did not pass it; on 12 March it was returned to the House Rules Committee for third reading. The memorial is a request to Congress and does not itself amend the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Sources and image credit

  1. Washington State Legislature. (2026). HJM 4004 – 2025–26: Requesting Congress to modify the Marine Mammal Protection Act.Official legislative history. HJM 4004 passed the Washington House 80–16 on 29 January 2026, was referred to the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee on 2 February, and was returned to the House Rules Committee on 12 March.
  2. Washington State House of Representatives. (2026, January 29). House Bill Report: HJM 4004 (As Passed House).Official House report used for the requested MMPA changes, existing pinniped-removal framework and summaries of testimony for and against the memorial.

Image: Vickie J Anderson — harbour seal pup (Phoca vitulina richardii) in Puget Sound, Washington, 13 July 2022; representative regional image. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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