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hard truths 263Slick and huge, the nemesis of Billy Frank rises from the NisquallyRiver and gasps. He tosses his catch in the air like a toy beforegnashing it with his teeth. “That’s the enemy right there,” anotherfisherman blasts from the Landing, as he points his index finger at aCalifornia sea lion.For generations, children have sat in awe of the performing sea lion.They’ve marveled as it playfully balances a brightly-colored beachball on the tip of its nose. As Billy will tell you, there is far more tothese intelligent creatures than circus stunts. “They’re just eating oursalmon,” Billy says. Every year, a group of sea lions arrives to devourendangered fish in the Nisqually River. “Winter fish, chum salmon,they ate them all. We had to close our fishery down this year. They’rejust hammering our fish. We’re off balance with seals and sea lions.They’re all hungry. They’re hungry like everybody else.”You can find Billy’s whiskered foes from southern Mexico tosouthwestern Canada. They arrive in Western Washington likeunwanted guests around Thanksgiving. They linger until May, oftenat the Ballard Locks, frothing at the mouth for the endangered fish.Anecdotally, Billy has witnessed a dramatic jump in the number ofCalifornia sea lions congregating in local rivers. “The most sea lionsthat I’ve ever seen in the Nisqually River, in my lifetime, was six. Thisyear, I counted 68 sea lions—big, giant sea lions, eating salmon rightat the I-5 bridge.”As a protected species threatens endangered species, governmentfaces a conundrum. California sea lions fall under the Marine MammalProtection Act. But they’re threatening fish listed as endangered. Tohalt the feeding frenzy, desperate authorities have found themselvesusing far-fetched tricks, like rubber bullets, firecrackers, and badmusic. They even tied a giant fiberglass “Fake Willy” to anchors andbuoys, in an attempt to frighten the sea lions into going back home.“I got one on the back of the neck with a beanbag and he didn’teven drop the fish he was eating,” grumbled Darrell Schmidt of theU.S. Department of Agriculture. Nothing has worked. The numberof sea lions has grown roughly 6 percent each year since 1983; the