Appeals court upholds endangered species protections for coho 

The Associated Press

November 20, 2007

SACRAMENTO —A state appeals court on Tuesday upheld endangered species protections for the coho salmon in California .

A three-judge panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that the state Fish and Game Commission acted properly in 2004 when it listed the Northern California coho as threatened and the Central California Coast coho as endangered.

The decision upheld a ruling last year by a Sacramento County judge.

The California Forestry Association, the California Chamber of Commerce, California Cattlemen's Association and several other groups had appealed that decision, contending the commission misinterpreted the state's Endangered Species Act.

But the appeals court justices said the plaintiffs used a narrow reading of the law to support their case, including a claim that the salmon didn't need to be covered by the state's Endangered Species Act because they're also covered by the federal Endangered Species Act.

"We can envision a scenario in which a species is delisted under the (federal law) because it is flourishing in areas outside of California but is still declining in California ," Justice Ronald Robie wrote for the court. "Already having in place a (state) listing of the same species would ensure continued protection of the species in California ."

Brian Stranko, a spokesman for the conservation group California Trout, praised the decision, saying that "with this ruling the hard work of protecting this magnificent and important species can begin in earnest."

David Bischel, president of the California Forestry Association, did not immediately respond to a message left on his office phone Tuesday evening seeking reaction to the ruling.

The coho's range stretches from Japan and eastern Russia to Alaska and south along the North American coast as far as Monterey Bay .

Studies have found that the number of coho salmon in California , including hatchery fish, has declined at least 70 percent since the 1960s, with the population along the central coast reaching "widespread extirpation or near-extinction," the court said.

Reasons for the decline include logging, industrial and agricultural discharges and urban development.

The case is California Forestry Association et al v. California Fish and Game Commission et al, C053866.

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