The bill is a memorial from the Washington State Legislature urging Congress to amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act to provide greater flexibility for states and tribes in managing pinniped populations, particularly in relation to the recovery of endangered salmon stocks. It highlights the success of previous lethal removal efforts of sea lions on the Columbia River and cites a 2022 report from the Washington State Academy of Sciences, which identified pinniped populations as a contributing factor to the decline of salmon. The report recommends that adaptive management strategies, including lethal removals, be expanded to improve salmon recovery efforts.

The memorial specifically requests that Congress modify the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow for the use of adaptive management tools, including lethal removal of pinniped predators, across all marine shorelines and the Puget Sound, rather than being limited to the current authorized segment of the Columbia River. This change is seen as essential for state and tribal resource managers to effectively address the challenges facing salmon populations in Washington state waters.