State Opposes Threatened Status For Steelhead

Gov. Phil Batt and the Idaho Fish and Game Commission have huddled and decided they both oppose a National Marine Fisheries Service proposal to list Snake River wild steelhead as a threatened species.

Batt on Thursday visited the commission meeting in Boise to present a plaque to departing department Director Jerry Conley for his service.

After that, Batt met with Commission Chairman Richard Meiers in a private meeting.

Batt said the state’s tack reflects the service’s failure to make progress on salmon recovery and the threat the move could pose for Idaho’s sports fishermen.

The governor also questioned why the service had not stepped in to restrict Indian gillnet fishing this fall that some say took more wild steelhead than a federal court agreement allowed.

Lewiston on Monday will be the site of opening round in the fisheries service public hearings over invoking the Endangered Species Act to protect wild steelhead runs from California to the Snake River.