Steelhead to Retain ESA Protection

By AP

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) Ten groups of steelhead from Southern California to Washington will retain Endangered Species Act protection under a new policy that lists only those that spend time in the ocean, exempting fish that remain in their native rivers, NOAA Fisheries announced Friday.

The change in policy was prompted by a suggestion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has jurisdiction over trout and steelhead that remain in rivers, that the two agencies adopt the same policy for defining steelhead populations. NOAA Fisheries retained the old policy for salmon, said Garth Griffin, fisheries biologist for NOAA Fisheries.

The decision by NOAA fisheries was applauded by Trout Unlimited and the Native Fish Society in Portland, who said counting steelhead and genetically identical rainbow trout in the same population groups could lead to inflated fish numbers that could result in removing protections for some steelhead that need it.

“I think it was a little bit of bureaucratic infighting that led to this, but I think it was the right result,” said Jeff Curtis of Trout Unlimited.