Conservationists sue feds to protect Pacific Northwest salmon

Matt Simons

(CN) — Conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday morning against the National Marine Fisheries Service for missing its deadline to determine if spring-run Chinook salmon in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act. The organizations behind the lawsuit seek a court order to compel the Fisheries Service to issue a finding within a suitable time frame.

“These iconic fish are at risk of disappearing from our coastal rivers forever if the Service doesn’t act quickly,” Jeremiah Scanlan, a legal fellow at the Center for Biological Diversity, said. “Spring-run Chinook salmon badly need protections, but instead, the agency has taken the lazy river approach and drifted past its own deadlines.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, Native Fish Society, Umpqua Watersheds, and Pacific Rivers claim the Fisheries Service violated federal law when it failed to issue a timely finding within 12 months of their petition asking for three Chinook salmon populations to be listed as “threatened” or “endangered” — the Oregon Coast Chinook salmon, the Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal Chinook salmon, and the Washington Coast spring-run Chinook salmon.

“The agency’s failure to meet the deadlines delays crucial, lifesaving protections for these species, increasing their risk of extinction,” the groups said in their lawsuit.

Chinook salmon, also known as “king salmon,” are the largest of all Pacific salmon species. Although the fish were once abundant in the river basins of the Pacific Northwest, their populations have declined sharply in recent years and are now only a fraction of their historical size.

The groups claim these salmon face numerous threats to their existence, including dams and water diversions that prevent them from returning to their spawning grounds, as well as logging and road construction that have destroyed their habitats and degraded local water quality. They further claim that hatchery-raised hybridizations of spring-run and fall-run Chinook salmon threaten to weaken the genetic diversity and fitness of native salmon populations and could outright replace native spring-run Chinook salmon if nothing is done.

“The science is clear,” Stanley Petrowski, a member of Umpqua Watersheds, said. “This unique ecologically significant species is going extinct."

Environmental groups are also concerned that declining salmon populations could have ripple effects across the ecosystem. Spring-run Chinook salmon are one of the primary staples in the diet of Southern Resident orca whales, an endangered species with a population of only 73 individuals. Falling salmon numbers could mean that the fish-eating orcas, which have suffered from malnourishment and reproductive failures in recent years, may need to travel farther and work harder to find enough food.

To ensure the timely protection of species at risk of extinction, the Endangered Species Act provides for a detailed process where interested parties may petition the service to list a species as endangered or threatened.

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the agency to protect the Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal Chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act in August 2022. A similar petition followed for the Washington Coast spring-run Chinook salmon in July 2023.

The service found that federal protections “may be warranted” for the three salmon populations in 2023 but has made no further decisions.

The groups argue that, under federal law, because the service found the petition may be warranted, its 12-month finding was due one year after receipt and is past due.

The environmentalists seek an injunction compelling the Fisheries Service to issue a decision within a reasonable time frame, although they did not provide an exact date. It is likely to be determined later in the legal process.

Granting federal protections to the salmon would result in a comprehensive recovery plan for the species and further prohibit any “taking” actions related to its population, including fishing, hunting, shooting, killing, capturing, collecting, or otherwise harming them. Additionally, the import, export, interstate, and foreign commerce of their populations would also be prohibited.

A National Marine Fisheries Service spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.