FISHERIES -- The Wild Fish Conservancy and four other conservation organizations today issued a 60-day notice that they intend to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to complete and implement a recovery plan for the Puget Sound steelhead.

This suit would be the latest of several legal actions to force management decisions to protect wild steelhead stocks.

• The Wild Fish Conservancy filed a lawsuit on Nov. 3 against federal environmental and fisheries managers for allowing commercial salmon farms in Puget Sound. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle says infectious viruses in salmon farms are threatening wild fish in the region.
• Initial lawsuits have forced the Washington Fish and Wildlife into a Nov. 2014 agreement to stop stocking hatchery steelhead in Puget South Rivers resulting in hundreds of thousands of young steelhead being stocked in trout fishing lakes to avoid wasting them altogether.  Washington Fish and Wildlife officials explained the suit and their response in a statement.

Ripple effects of the earlier lawsuits can be seen in proposals for Washington steelhead fishing regulations that will be considered this by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The five groups proposing another lawsuit include The Conservation Angler, International Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee, Washington Fly Fishing Club, and Wild Steelhead Coalition.

In justifying the latest intent to sue, the groups said in a media release:

NMFS has not completed a recovery plan for Puget Sound steelhead despite listing the species as threatened under the ESA in 2007 and assigning them a recovery priority number of 1—the highest priority.

The ESA requires NMFS to prepare and implement recovery plans for species listed under the statue in a timely manner. Final recovery plans should generally be completed within 2.5 years of listing.

“It’s been over eight years since Puget Sound steelhead were listed as threatened under the ESA, “said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy. “NOAA just announced it will be at least another four years, making it twelve years in total until they have completed the final recovery plan. That’s much too long of a delay given the status of the species.

"Major decisions are already being made in the absence of this plan such as on what levels of harm are acceptable from hatcheries, what rivers are going to be managed for wild steelhead, and which critical habitats will be protected and restored. A recovery plan is urgently needed to inform ongoing efforts to protect and recover Puget Sound steelhead, Washington’s official State fish. Without a plan, recovery efforts are flying blind.”

A recovery plan is essential to determine what is necessary to prevent the extinction of Puget Sound steelhead and to ensure that ongoing and future projects and management actions are consistent with recovery of the species. As a result of NMFS’ delay, funds are not being allocated to projects aimed at protecting and restoring important steelhead habitat, and ongoing projects like the Chambers Creek hatchery programs that are harming the species continue to move forward.

Puget Sound wild steelhead numbers are approximately 1% to 4% of their historical abundance and most of its component populations face a high risk of extinction.

Estimates of mean population growth rates are declining for most populations—typically 3% to 10% annually.

The groups are represented by Kampmeier & Knutsen, PLLC of Portland and Seattle.