In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Duvall-based Wild Fish Conservancy and other organizations accuse the National Marine Fisheries Service of failing to come up with a plan to recover the seagoing rainbow trout, which were listed as threatened in 2007.

The conservancy has filed several actions over the years related to the impacts hatchery steelhead have on wild steelhead. The suits have forced sharp changes in management of Western Washington steelhead streams and hatcheries.

The complaint filed today says the agency has delayed the recovery plan for eight years and doesn’t expect to have one until 2019. The groups say that without a plan, projects intended to improve steelhead habitat aren’t getting funded.

Steelhead populations in the region have declined by about 97 percent since 1900, the complaint states.

The fisheries service says it’s working on it. Spokesman Michael Milstein says the recovery plan has been delayed while the agency invests significant time in collecting more scientific information about steelhead, which have been lesser-known than other salmon species. A team has developed a scientific foundation for the recovery plan.