WEST COAST
Protection for the
Northwest’s salmon just took a major leap forward. In a
landmark ruling, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour banned the use
of 38 pesticides near streams that host threatened and endangered
runs of salmon and steelhead in Washington, Oregon and California.
The ruling follows a July 2002 decision, in which Judge
Coughenour found that the Environmental Protection Agency had
failed to protect endangered salmon from harmful pesticides. The
judge didn’t give the EPA a deadline to begin protection,
however, so environmentalists and commercial fishers sued again,
winning temporary restrictions under the January 22 ruling.
According to the ruling, certain pesticides, like
diazinon and malathion, can’t be applied within 20 yards of
salmon streams, or sprayed aerially within 100 yards. Many of these
compounds are used widely, from apple orchards and rice fields to
suburban lawns. Lawn and garden stores selling some of the most
common pesticides must now post warning signs.
“What’s so important about this decision is that it puts
protection on the ground for salmon. So often, the action on
endangered species is delayed,” says Patti Goldman, the
Earthjustice attorney who argued the case. But pesticide
manufacturers and farm groups plan to appeal the ruling, citing the
costs of the ban.
To make the protection permanent, the
EPA’s next step is to screen the 38 pesticides for their
effects on more than two dozen salmon and steelhead species. In
high doses, these compounds may kill fish, while in low
concentrations, they can interfere with a fish’s ability to
find prey, dodge predators and reproduce.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Salmon get a break from pesticides.
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