NOAA
Highlights of 2004 Proposed Listing Determinations
for 27 ESUs of Pacific Salmon and Steelhead
May 28, 2004
Today’s Action
Today, Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., (U.S. Navy, ret.), Administrator of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and D. Robert Lohn,
Northwest Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries announced the release of a
new hatchery policy, status reviews and proposed listing determinations for 27
populations (called “evolutionary significant units” (ESUs)) of Pacific
salmon and steelhead.
Background
Beginning in the early 1990’s, NOAA Fisheries listed 26 ESUs of salmon and
steelhead as either threatened or endangered in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and
California. In September 2001, an Oregon federal district
court held that NOAA Fisheries improperly failed to account for hatchery
populations in its ESA listings. In February 2004, the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals denied a petition for appeal of the Alsea decision. The listing
determinations and status reviews are based upon a report produced in early
2003 by NOAA Fisheries’ Biological Review Team detailing the biological
status of naturally spawning stocks, as well as its assessment of the effects
of hatchery programs on ESU viability and conclusions from the Artificial
Propagation Evaluation Workshop held in April 2004.
Highlights of Selected Status Reviews and Proposed Listing
Determinations
• 2 ESU Improvements from Endangered to Threatened. The status
report proposes 23 ESUs warrant listing as “threatened.” Previously, NOAA
Fisheries had 20 ESUs listed as threatened. Following the reviews, 2
previously “endangered” listings (Sacramento River winter-run chinook
and Upper Columbia River steelhead) improved to “threatened” status. In
addition, one ESU that had been a “candidate” for listing, Lower Columbia
coho, was proposed as a “threatened” status, and one that had previously
been listed as threatened, Oregon Coast coho, was proposed to be relisted
as “threatened.”
• 1 Listing Change from Threatened to Endangered. The report proposes
that 4 ESUs (Snake River sockeye, Upper Columbia River spring chinook,
Southern California steelhead and Central California Coast coho) warrant listing
as “endangered” species. Previously, NOAA Fisheries had 5 ESUs listed as
endangered. The Central Coast coho status was a change from “threatened”
to “endangered.” The State of California also proposed listing of this ESU
under the state ESA.
• Puget Sound Chinook ESU. While the status of this ESU is proposed
by NOAA Fisheries to remain threatened, the status report recognizes
“significant and positive actions to address limiting factors” of Puget
Sound chinook, including: implementation of the Washington Forests and Fish
agreement for timber practices, the Washington Department of
Transportation’s Routine Road Maintenance plan implemented by the Tri-County
governments, the Puget Sound hatchery reform project, and ongoing habitat and
harvest management programs. The report also expresses NOAA Fisheries’
support for the Shared Strategy recovery planning process, and encourages it
to continue to meet necessary commitments to address limiting factors of the
ESU.
• Snake River Fall Chinook ESU. While the status of this ESU is
proposed by NOAA Fisheries to remain threatened, the report notes that
“actions under the 2000 Federal Columbia River Power System biological
opinion and improvements in hatchery practices have provided some encouraging
signs in addressing the ESU’s factors for decline.” The report also
acknowledges that hatchery stocks from the Lyons Ferry hatchery have
contributed to encouraging increases in return fall chinook salmon n recent
years.
• Oregon Coast Coho ESU. The status of this ESU is proposed by NOAA
Fisheries to remain threatened. However, the report recognizes the
“significant contributions” the Oregon Plan has made or encouraged toward
conserving salmon and steelhead populations, and states that if, upon
completion of the State of Oregon’s scientific review of problems causing
the previous decline and also an analysis showing that the Oregon Plan and/or
other conservation efforts substantially mitigate ESU extinction risk, NOAA
Fisheries will re-open the listing determination to consider the best and most
recent scientific and commercial data available.
• Middle Columbia River Steelhead ESU. The status of this ESU is
proposed by NOAA Fisheries to remain threatened. However, the report
recognizes dramatic increases in abundance throughout the ESU, positive
short-term productivity in all production areas. The report states that NOAA
Fisheries views this ESU as “an exceptional opportunity to secure specific
conservation measures that would help ensure the ESU’s viability over the
long term and likely bring the ESU to the point where ESA protections are no
longer necessary,” and that in the event that certain actions are undertaken
to address limiting factors prior to the final listing determination, NOAA
Fisheries will re-open the listing determination for this ESU.
• Upper Columbia River Steelhead ESU. The status of this ESU is
proposed by NOAA Fisheries to have improved from endangered to threatened. The
report notes that NOAA Fisheries’ assessment
of the effects of hatcheries on the ESU’s extinction risk concluded that
hatchery programs collectively mitigate the immediacy of extinction risk
in-total in the short term, but the contribution in the foreseeable future is
uncertain.
• Sacramento Winter Run Chinook ESU. The status of this ESU is
proposed by NOAA Fisheries to have improved from endangered to threatened. The
report notes “harvest and habitat conservation
efforts have substantially benefited the ESU’s abundance and productivity
over the past decade,” including: changes in Central Valley Project and
State Water Project operations and other actions undertaken pursuant to
implementation of the Central Valley Project biological opinion; changes in
ocean harvest pursuant to the ocean harvest biological opinion and habitat
restoration efforts as a result of the CALFED program and other habitat
restoration projects.
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