Contact:  Gordon Helm                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                     4/25/97

In a decision that reflects the flexibility inherent in the Endangered Species Act to build on state-designed conservation plans, the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service today reached an agreement with Oregon and pledged to continue to work with California with the aim of protecting dwindling populations of coho salmon on the West Coast.

The fisheries service said it will continue to work vigorously with both states to support their salmon conservation efforts and ensure public participation in the coastal coho salmon rebuilding process through the states' management plans.

The fisheries service has decided that the coho population group along the central and northern Oregon coast will be placed on the agency's "candidate species" list (a list of species that potentially may be classified as threatened or endangered in the future) and not be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The fisheries service said it would rely in part on Oregon's salmon plan to protect these coho.

Additionally, the fisheries service will list as threatened under the Endangered species Act a dwindling population of coho salmon that straddles portions of both Oregon and California, known as the transboundary population, and will prohibit "taking," with certain exemptions based on state conservation planning efforts. The fisheries service can forbid killing or harming a threatened species activities known collectively as "taking."

Transboundary Coho Listing

The coho population found in southern Oregon and northern California, called the transboundary population, has declined to six percent of its levels in the 1940s, according to fisheries service biologists. A wide range of human-caused factors threatens this population including habitat degradation, harvest, and hatchery practices. These factors have been exacerbated by natural events such as drought, flooding, and poor ocean survival conditions.

In a significant step reflecting the flexibility of the Endangered Species Act to build on a state plan even when a listing takes place, Stelle said that the fisheries service has decided not to apply the "taking" prohibition to certain activities in the Oregon segment of the transboundary population that is properly addressed by the plan.

"Our decision to list the southern runs of coho and still build the Oregon plan into the heart of the ESA recovery effort is clear evidence that the ESA provides a place for state conservation planning efforts regardless of whether the ultimate decision is to list or not to list. This is a major advance for the ESA program and for the Oregon plan," Stelle emphasized.

In addition, the fisheries service said it would continue to work with California to help it develop and implement a state conservation plan under its watershed protection program. The fisheries service expects the state plan will provide a forum in which all interested parties may participate in designing a strategy for recovering coho.

"We recognize that the state of California and its citizens have already begun taking important steps to protect coho in this region," said William Hogarth, head of the fisheries service's Southwest regional office in Long Beach, Calif. "However, in this region the coho salmon populations are dangerously low. We are committed to work with California's Resources Agency and Department of Fish and Game to assist them in completing development of a state conservation plan for coho salmon that builds on restoration efforts that are already ongoing and leads to the recovery of this valuable economic resource."

The Oregon coast coho population runs from the Columbia River south to Cape Blanco, Ore. The transboundary population runs from Cape Blanco to Punta Gorda, Cal.

Oregon Coast Coho On "Candidate Species" List

In the central and northern Oregon coast, the fisheries service decided, at least for the immediate future, not to list as threatened what is known as the Oregon coast coho population. This decision is based on current population numbers and trends, and on firm commitments from the state of Oregon contained in its salmon conservation plan and a signed agreement that strengthens the working relationship between the state and the fisheries service regarding salmon conservation.

"We are plowing important new ground here today," said William Stelle, head of the fisheries service's Northwest regional office in Seattle. "Oregon's is by far the most comprehensive conservation plan any state has ever offered to protect a species proposed for Endangered Species Act listing."

"Oregon's plan, more than a year and a half in the making, has the backing of the state legislature, the support of private and public funding, including $30 million from the legislature, and a signed commitment from the governor to strengthen it as needed over time," Stelle added. "It's a road map for salmon recovery in the West."

Stelle said the fisheries service would officially place this coho population on its "candidate species" list, with a mandatory review of the fish's biological status.