Contact: Brian Gorman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 1996
The National Marine Fisheries Service said today that with the lifting of the moratorium on Endangered Species Act activities, it was submitting to a federal court in San Francisco a schedule for steelhead and cutthroat trout actions on the West Coast.
The Commerce agency said that it will issue a final determination by early September about whether to list southern Oregon's Umpqua River cutthroat trout under the Endangered Species Act. Umpqua River cutthroat were proposed to be listed as an endangered species in July of 1994.
The fisheries agency said it also expects to issue by early December a preliminary decision on whether steelhead trout in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California should be listed as threatened or endangered.
Umpqua River cutthroat and West Coast steelhead, both highly prized by sport fishermen, have been declining throughout most of their range in the continental United States in recent years. For steelhead, that range extends from Washington state to the Santa Margarita River in San Diego County, Calif., and inland into Idaho, central Washington and California's Central Valley. Umpqua River cutthroat trout may be in danger of extinction in their very limited range in southern Oregon.
The ability of the fisheries service to proceed with Endangered Species Act listings was delayed because of Congressional restrictions, some dating to more than a year ago. The moratorium was lifted last month when President Clinton signed waiver provisions as part of a larger agreement on federal spending for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The waiver provisions allow the fisheries service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to resume their consideration of Endangered Species Act protection for species in decline or near extinction.
"These and other salmon and trout on the West Coast are in dire need of protection," said William Stelle, director of the fisheries service's Northwest regional office in Seattle, "and the conditions that continue to threaten these fish didn't conveniently stop during the moratorium."
Stelle said that his agency is moving to ensure that those salmon and trout at greatest risk are addressed first. He said the fisheries service will set a high priority on actions that provide maximum benefits for salmon and trout in the shortest period of time and will make the best use of work and scientific research concluded before the moratorium.
Stelle said that a listing may add a greater sense of urgency to ongoing state-wide conservation efforts.
Stelle added that a listing of Umpqua cutthroat would in no way affect state, local, and private conservation efforts now underway, and that the fisheries service will continue to work with Oregon in devising a conservation strategy to improve the status of Oregon's coastal salmon and trout species.
The fisheries service believes that conservation planning and implementation in cooperation with state and local governments and the private sector are an effective approach to salmon and trout restoration.
Stelle warned, however, that "time isn't on our side. We've got to proceed without delay with collaborative efforts and effective conservation strategies if we're going to avoid further declines in these fish populations and the need for more restrictive conservation measures."
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