Faced with a court-imposed deadline, the National
Marine Fisheries Service listed only one West Coast coho salmon
population as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.
The agency announced Oct. 25 that coho along
coastal Central California deserved threatened status under the
law, but two populations in Northern California and Oregon will be
studied for another six months because of “substantial
disagreement” over the status of the fish.
Fishing groups and environmentalists say the
disagreement stems from politics rather than science. The agency
has considered listing coho stocks since 1993, and long-term trends
show the fish have declined dramatically from the central
California coast to the Canadian border (HCN, 10/15/93).
But in the months preceding the decision, both
California Gov. Pete Wilson, R, and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, D,
urged the Fisheries Service to delay the listing, claiming the
states could recover the fish without the Endangered Species Act.
Kitzhaber’s plan would rely on the voluntary efforts of logging
companies, ranchers and other landowners to improve the hundreds of
streams and rivers that the fish inhabit.
Fish
advocates say voluntary plans won’t be tough enough.
“Unfortunately, the Endangered Species Act is the only way to
compel federal and state agencies and private landowners to take
action,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast
Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.
*Jim
Hight
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A listing and a delay.
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