The salmon run supplies about 90% of the nitrogen that our forests depend on so yeah, salmon first. The only sea lions getting shot are the ones who get out of their lane and travel a hundred plus miles up the freshwater rivers to snack on salmon in an environment where their predation isn’t able to be checked naturally and that upsets the balance we’ve managed to eke out between our need for dams and the salmon’s need to go spawn then get back out to the sea. Orcas, aside from the salmon eating ones, are an excellent check on the sea lion population, which is burgeoning unlike the populations of orca and salmon.
Sorry, sea lions, but meet Mr Rifle on the rivers. Stay in the ocean and stay alive.
Err…no. Where are you getting that notion? Certainly not from the cite above. 97% of their diet is salmon. Chinook, Chum, Coho, Sockeye and Steelhead* are ALL salmon, with essentially identical habits as anadromous fish. That cite is saying they eat virtually only salmon. So 97% salmon, 78% specifically Chinook salmon.
That population( or species )does not have a diverse or adaptable diet. At all. They’re narrow specialists.
I know folks consider trout and salmon to be different critters, but in this case they are functionally the same. Not only are all of the above in the same genus, Oncorhynchus, they also have the same life history as sea-run fish that breed in fresh water rivers.