It couldn't possibly have anything to do with dams and massive clearcuts destroying salmon spawning habitat.  Nope.  No way.  It's the fault of sea lions who have been eating fish for eons, nothing we humans (and our bureaucracies and corporations) have been doing.  

Of course, if the State admitted clearcuts and road building might be a factor they might have to consider no longer allowing the destruction.  So the sea lions make a good scapegoat.