Scientists Say Chinook Salmon Migrating Toward Endangered List

Federal scientists say chinook salmon populations in Puget Sound and the upper Columbia River basin are so low that the fish are likely headed for the endangered species list.

The National Marine Fisheries Service concluded in a review that chinook salmon “are not presently in danger of extinction, but are likely to become so in the foreseeable future” - the definition of a “threatened” species, The News Tribune of Tacoma reported Thursday.

The draft review, obtained by the newspaper, doesn’t recommend listings, but its evaluation of the status of chinook populations throughout the Northwest will be a key factor in the final decision.

The federal fisheries service plans to make a recommendation on chinook listings by the end of the year, agency spokesman Brian Gorman said.

The consequence of the listing - the first for the state’s most populous area under the Endangered Species Act - would be far-reaching, said Bern Shanks, director of the state Fish and Wildlife Department.

“This is the 900-pound gorilla for Washington state. There has seldom been an endangered species issue that really reaches into the heart of a vibrant, modern economy the way this one does,” Shanks said.

Increased restrictions on fishing and logging, new rules for farmers and stricter regulation of development and water use could result from an endangered species listing.

It also would signify major changes in the operation of hatcheries, which can harm wild stocks by leading to overfishing or genetic dilution.

The law could even reach out to people living along rivers, clamping down on construction of bulkheads, clearing of streamside vegetation and destroying wetlands - all things that have contributed to the chinook’s decline.

According to the report, total chinook numbers in Puget Sound have dropped from 690,000 in 1911 to an average of 71,000 over the past few years. Less than a quarter of those are wild fish, said Carol Smith, the Fish and Wildlife Department’s chinook program manager.

“Most of the people in our agency are very concerned about the chinook. We know they’re in bad shape,” Smith said.

The prized chinook, one of the state’s most popular sport fish and once a mainstay of Washington’s commercial fisheries, has long been a trademark of the region. They are found in most major waterways including Lake Washington, and the Puyallup, Skagit, Snohomish and Dungeness rivers.

“They’re the biggest, the strongest. They’re what most people think of when they think of salmon,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of Washington Trout, a conservation group. “The Pacific Northwest would not be the same if we lost chinook.”

Shanks hopes Washington will be able to put together an aggressive salmon protection plan that will convince the federal government that it doesn’t need to list chinook, also known as king salmon.

“We think that a federal listing, along with an aggressive state plan, is the best hope for these fish,” said David Moskowitz of the Oregon-based Native Fish Society.

Whether the state crafts its own comprehensive plan, or whether the federal government steps in, saving chinook will require changes in the way the region runs, said Gorman.

Three remote salmon runs on the Columbia and Snake rivers are already on the endangered list. According to the report, chinook in Oregon’s upper Willamette River, California’s upper Upper Klamath and Trinity rivers and California’s central valley are also in enough trouble to warrant listing based on biology alone.

But other chinook populations, including those along the Washington, Oregon and California coasts, are in much better shape and are not candidates for the endangered species list.