Contact: Brian Gorman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rob Jones 6/14/96
The National Marine Fisheries Service said today it is expanding its schedule of actions to protect salmon populations under the Endangered Species Act to include a timetable for decisions on West Coast coho, chum, sockeye and chinook salmon, and West Coast cutthroat trout.
Late last month, the federal fisheries agency said it will issue a final determination about whether to list southern Oregon's Umpqua River cutthroat by early September and will issue a preliminary decision by early December on whether to list steelhead trout in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California.
The agency's Endangered Species Act responsibilities were delayed by a congressionally imposed moratorium, lifted April 26 when the president signed a final budget agreement for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The fisheries service said its highest priority listing decisions are for Umpqua River cutthroat trout, coastal steelhead trout, and West Coast coho salmon, with the degree of biological risk to each species the primary factor used to rank its actions.
The agency said the likely biological benefits from deciding whether a species is threatened or endangered, and the practical limits of its own resources were also considered in establishing its species-by-species priorities.
The fisheries service put Umpqua River cutthroat first, it said, because scientific information shows the fish face a high risk of extinction and little additional work is required to complete the agency's findings.
West Coast steelhead were moved up to number two on its list, the fisheries service said, because they are at risk over a considerable extent of their geographic range and are not now the focus of any comprehensive conservation actions. Moreover, the agency said, its scientific understanding of these steelhead is closer to completion than the scientific analysis of other West Coast salmon and trout.
A final decision on whether to list West Coast coho is not expected before late January 1997. The fisheries service completed its scientific review of the species on Sept. 2, 1994. But because the Endangered Species Act requires consideration of the "best scientific information available," the agency said it must take into account new scientific information on coho and differing scientific opinions on its status before a final decision can be made.
"We're not going to delay higher priority actions, rush into a final listing for coho, and put cutthroat and steelhead at greater risk in the process," said William Stelle, head of the fisheries service's Northwest regional office in Seattle.
"The Endangered Species Act was established to protect species," Stelle added. "No one has ever looked at the biology or established the status of these fish over their entire -- and enormous -- range from southern California into Canada. Common sense tells us we must unravel and understand the science so we can proceed with meaningful and long-term recovery."
In the meantime, he said, actions are being taken to protect fish from habitat loss and harvest, and the fisheries service is urging coastal states to continue development of plans to conserve these fishes. Oregon, for example, has mounted an aggressive effort called the Coastal Salmon Restoration Initiative, and California has begun a Coastal Salmon Initiative.
Stelle said he strongly supports these initiatives and believes that local efforts are the key to saving coastal salmon and trout. "It is essential," he insisted, "that local and state efforts, including voluntary watershed projects, form the nucleus of salmon protection and recovery."
The fisheries service anticipates that its remaining decisions about whether to propose listings will adhere to the following schedule:
West Coast chum - February 1997
West Coast sockeye - September 1997
West Coast chinook - December 1997
West Coast cutthroat trout - January 1998