Northwest Fish Top Contenders For Addition To Endangered List

Three Pacific Northwest fish are the top candidates for addition to the endangered species list at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a top agency officer told Congress on Tuesday.

But consideration of one fish, the West Coast coho salmon, could be delayed into next year, Rolland Schmitten said.

The highest priority is to make a final decision on whether to list the Umpqua River cutthroat trout, located in southern Oregon, said Schmitten, assistant administrator for fisheries.

“The species was proposed as endangered on July 8, 1994, and available information indicates that the species remains at high risk of extinction,” he told the House Resources Committee.

The trout benefits from no-logging buffer strips along streams under President Clinton’s Northwest forest plan, but no state or federal recovery effort currently under way specifically addresses the trout, he said.

“A listing would significantly benefit this species,” Schmitten said, anticipating a final decision in early September.

The next priority is a decision on West Coast steelhead, he said.

The Fisheries Service planned to complete its formal proposal regarding listing in December, but recent court orders may force that decision to be made by the end of July.

The agency received petitions for listing the West Coast steelhead in February 1994 and completed an extensive review of the population status in July 1995.

“Due to the geographical and biological complexity of steelhead, considerably more scientific, administrative and policy work needs to be done,” Schmitten said.

Work on the West Coast coho has been delayed several months because of a congressionally imposed new-listing moratorium that was imposed last year and lasted through this April.

NMFS had hoped to complete its coho decision by October, but it now probably won’t be done before January of next year, he said.