On June 16, 2005, NOAA Fisheries Service issued its final Endangered Species Act Pacific salmon hatchery listing policy, final ESA listing determinations for 16 West Coast salmon populations, and six-month listings extensions for Oregon coast coho and 10 O. mykiss (steelhead and rainbow trout) populations. Below are documents associated with these actions.
On Mar. 16, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld NOAA Fisheries Service's hatchery listing policy for Pacific salmonids. The court's decision ends an eight-year chapter in NOAA's salmon and steelhead listings. It affirms the current listing status of 27 salmon and steelhead populations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The good news for NOAA Fisheries Service, other federal agencies, and citizens with ESA permits and approvals, is that NOAA's decisions over the last several years relying on this policy do not need to be revised. The good news for ESA-listed species is that the court upheld the principle that a viable species is one that is self-sustaining in the wild.
