Contact: Brian Gorman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(206) 526-6613 (O) 7/19/95
(206) 441-1250 (H)
The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed protecting three distinct populations of wild coastal coho salmon from California's San Lorenzo River near Santa Cruz north to the Columbia River, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced. All three coho populations are being proposed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.
The Endangered Species Act defines a threatened species as one "likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range."
William Stelle, director of the Northwest regional office of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle, said that "The stocks we're proposing for listing are currently a fraction of their former size. Without help from state and federal government, from Indian tribes, and from private landowners, these fish will continue on their way to extinction."
Hilda Diaz-Soltero, the fisheries agency's Southwest regional director in Long Beach, Calif., emphasized the need for the federal government to work with state agencies and others at the local level to restore coho habitat and help stocks recover.
"If we are going to be successful in restoring these runs -- and I'm convinced that through hard work and perseverance we will be -- we must form strong partnerships with public agencies and grass-roots organizations," she said.
Representatives of Governors Wilson (Calif.), Kitzhaber (Ore.), and Lowry (Wash.) participated in the announcement and pledged the commitments of the three states to assume a lead role in developing state-based conservation strategies in partnership with federal and tribal authorities. Stelle described these commitments as "opening a new era in conservation that reflects the recommendations of the Western Governors Association that should serve as a model for the nation as it moves to meet the Endangered Species challenges of the 21st century."
Three other stocks of wild coho on the West Coast are not being proposed for listing at this time. However, Stelle warned that there is great uncertainty about the status of two coho populations, one composed of Puget Sound/Strait of Georgia stocks and the other consisting of stocks from the lower Columbia River and southwest Washington coast. He said the agency is proposing both populations be designated "candidate species." The fisheries service will reevaluate the status of these coho stocks before it makes its final listing determination a year from now. The remaining West Coast wild coho stocks from the Olympic Peninsula were found to neither be endangered nor likely to become endangered in the near future and thus don't need protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The fisheries service's decision about all six populations of wild coho comes in response to two petitions filed by Northwest environmental organizations in 1993. In July 1993 Oregon Trout, Portland Audubon Society and Siskiyou Regional Education Project asked the fisheries service to list several populations of naturally-spawning coho in Oregon. In October of that same year the Pacific Rivers Council and 22 co-signers asked the agency to list wild coho throughout its range in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California.
The petitioners identified freshwater habitat loss, deteriorating ocean conditions and the adverse effects of artificial propagation as key factors responsible for the fish's declines.
The range of the wild coho population segments, also known as evolutionarily significant units or ESUs, considered in today's proposal are (1) central California stocks from the San Lorenzo River to Punta Gorda, (2) southern Oregon/northern California stocks from Punta Gorda to Cape Blanco, Oregon, and (3) Oregon coast stocks from Cape Blanco to the Columbia River. All three ESUs are being proposed as threatened.
Proposed for candidate status are coho populations in (1) the lower Columbia River/southwest Washington coast ESU, from the lower Columbia River north to Point Grenville, Wash., and (2) the Puget Sound/Strait of Georgia ESU, including drainages of Puget Sound, Hood Canal and the Olympic Peninsula east of Salt Creek and the Strait of Georgia from the eastern side of Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland.
The fisheries service determined that listing was not warranted at this time for the Olympic Peninsula ESU, which includes coho salmon from Washington coastal drainages from Point Grenville north to Salt Creek.
The fisheries service has a year to make a final decision about its proposed listings. During that time it will hold public hearings in California, Oregon and Washington, and will continue to work closely with the states and affected public. The agency will also accept public comments on its proposal until Oct. 17.