Judge rules on salmon-counting issue

Protection - A federal judge says only wild salmon numbers will be used in forming policy  

August 16, 2007

MICHAEL MILSTEIN

The Oregonian

Although hatchery salmon are important, wild salmon are the ones that count.

A federal judge in Oregon ruled the government need not count all the hatchery-raised salmon in Northwest rivers when deciding whether to protect dwindling numbers of wild-born fish.

The Tuesday decision by U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, based in Eugene, rejected arguments by property rights advocates, farm groups and others that salmon cannot be endangered because hatcheries are turning out plenty of the fish.

It may wrap up a long-running legal debate over whether hatchery-raised salmon can be counted toward recovery of the native fish, even if wild populations remain vulnerable to extinction.

Hogan contributed to that debate in 2001 when he ruled that the government could not protect wild salmon without also protecting hatchery-born fish.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights law group, seized on that ruling to argue that the fish must be counted together when deciding whether a species warrants protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

"If you're going to protect the salmon, you've got to count all the salmon," said Sonya Jones, an attorney for the foundation. "Once you count them all, they don't need protection."

She said the foundation will appeal Hogan's ruling. The group is already appealing a similar ruling by another federal judge in Washington who decided only wild fish should be counted when deciding on protection for a species.

Although hatchery and wild fish may look the same, biologists say wild-born fish are better equipped to survive and reproduce -- sustaining their species naturally.

The central question for the region is how to maintain wild populations of salmon that can sustain themselves, said Jan Hasselman, an attorney for Earthjustice, which intervened in the cases.

"There has been a six-year debate over the role of hatchery fish," he said. "That debate is now over. Let's move on to recovering healthy populations of wild fish."

Michael Milstein: 503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@ news.oregonian.com

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