Eastern Washington irrigators seek to remove salmon protections

Associated Press

KENNEWICK — Bolstered by a recent federal court ruling in Oregon, Columbia Basin irrigators are asking the government to strip seven salmon and steelhead runs of their protected status.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan removed coastal coho salmon from a list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The Sept. 10 decision suggests that because hatchery and wild coho salmon have the same genetic make-up, their numbers should be combined when considering whether to give the species protected status.

Environmentalists contend hatchery salmon are weaker than wild ones, and that the wild fish should be considered separately and protected.

In a petition submitted Friday, the irrigators asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to strip protections for steelhead, spring-summer chinook, sockeye and fall chinook on the Snake River, along with middle Columbia steelhead, upper Columbia steelhead and upper Columbia spring chinook.

They also asked the agency to abandon salmon management in the Northwest altogether, and leave the matter to states and tribes.

"With the largest salmon runs observed this year since dam counts began in 1938, the time is ripe for reconsidering application of the Endangered Species Act to Pacific salmon stocks," wrote Portland, Ore., lawyer James Buchal.

"The federal government has far more pressing business than micromanagement of salmon recovery in the Pacific Northwest."

The fisheries service has interpreted its mission as recovery for "natural populations" of fish.

In light of Hogan’s ruling, agency officials say the NMFS may have to rethink policies for granting protected status, but they have no immediate plans to lift protections for any salmon or steelhead runs.

If the irrigators’ petition is successful, it could end discussions about breaching or removing lower Snake River dams — a project some believe would aid salmon recovery.

"You take a big sledgehammer away that is zeroed in on the Northwest and you then manage the resources for everyone’s good," said Tom Mackay, president of the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association.

Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the fisheries service, has said that 20 of 26 West Coast stocks of salmon and steelhead could be affected by the judge’s ruling.

The decision did not affect state protections for the coastal coho, however. Under state rules, anglers can take only hatchery fish, whose adipose fins have been clipped.