Snake Steelhead May Land On List National Marine Fisheries Service To Announce Decision Today On Endangered Species Act Status

The National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to announce today it will follow through with listing Snake River steelhead for threatened status under the Endangered Species Act.

Idaho Fish and Game Department officials hope the effects of the listing will be relatively minor on anglers now gearing up for what appears to be a promising fall fishing season.

The state’s Fish and Game Commission and Gov. Phil Batt are on record opposing the federal listing. Equally opposed to the move are Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission officials, who argue the National Marine Fisheries Service’s original proposal for listing the run as threatened last August is flawed.

Tribal officials harbor greater fears the listing will interfere with their commercial fisheries targeting fall chinook salmon on the lower Columbia River.

Although National Marine Fisheries Service officials will not announce their decisions about 10 separate steelhead populations along the West Coast until today, their intent seems clear for Idaho steelhead runs, said Sharon Kiefer, Idaho Fish and Game’s anadromous fisheries coordinator at Boise.

“I think we can read between the lines enough to have a feel for what will happen. That is, we expect naturally produced Snake River steelhead to be listed as threatened.”

There are nuances about how the federal government will approach the listing, she said, but general signals show the move is likely to have minor impacts on steelhead anglers, at least in the short run.

“I think they’re going to list, but they’re not going to turn around and say you’re not going to have a fall steelhead fishery,” she said.

Idaho’s steelhead season begins Sept. 1 on the Snake and Salmon rivers. The catch-and-keep season on the Clearwater River begins Oct. 15.