[3] Judge Gives NMFS 60 Days To Finalize Oregon Coho Listing

Oregon District Court judge Garr King has upheld the July recommendation of federal magistrate Janice Stewart that found fault with the NOAA Fisheries decision not to list Oregon coastal coho for protection under the ESA. On Oct. 9, Judge King gave the agency 60 days to review the coho ESU's status and make a new decision.

In her finding, Judge Stewart agreed with environmental and fishing groups who argued that NMFS did not use the "best, available science" when it decided not to list the coho. The previous listing of the coho had serious consequences for Oregon's timber industry, who adopted a voluntary approach with the state for improving habitat. Since 2000, more than $10 million in federal spending has been funneled through the Pacific Salmon Recovery Fund to pay for restoring and improving habitat for coho and other listed species on the Oregon coast.

Critics of the 2006 NMFS decision not to list argued that most of the coho stocks' big jump in numbers came from improved ocean conditions that have boosted productivity since 1999. By 1998, the population had sagged to about 40,000 wild spawners, but rebounded to 265,000 fish in 2002.

"This is a victory for good science and for Oregon's future," said Earthjustice attorney Patti Goldman, who argued for plaintiff fishing and environmental groups that NMFS policymakers didn't take the advice of their own scientists, who found fault with an ODFW analysis of the coho ESU. The policymakers had agreed with a review by ODFW biologists who found that the coastal coho stocks had reset themselves at lower viable levels than previously seen, because of adverse changes to their coastal habitat after severe winters in the 1990s.

But Goldman's argument didn't reflect the sizable minority among NMFS scientists who supported a non-listing decision. Fifty-six percent of votes by the NMFS biological review team in 2003 supported the view that the coho were likely to become endangered, principally because of the loss of freshwater habitat. But 44 percent supported the position that increasing spawner numbers since 2000 was enough evidence to show the runs were resilient enough "to bounce back from years of depressed runs."

By 2000, Oregon wild coastal coho spawners had climbed to more than 230,000, from only 30,000 in 1997, after the runs had been hammered by a combination of over-harvesting and poor ocean conditions. For the past six years, spawning numbers have been more than 100,000, higher than any year since 1971.

But Earthjustice made no mention of the large increase in coastal coho numbers since the 1990s. In an Oct. 9 press release, the group said the slight rebound in coastal coho numbers between 2001 and 2003 had prompted the state of Oregon to "prematurely" declare the ESU recovered enough to no longer need federal protection. -B. R.

The following links were mentioned in this story:

NW Fishletter #234, July 26, 2007

NW Fishletter #209, January 31, 2006

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