Associated Press
EUGENE, Ore. — A federal judge refused Tuesday to restore Oregon coastal coho salmon to the threatened species list while environmentalists try to overturn his ruling and federal biologists discuss future protection for the fish.
Ruling from the bench, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan denied a motion by a coalition of conservation groups to stay his earlier ruling that lifted Endangered Species Act protection for the fish, whose home streams are located on the northern two-thirds of the Oregon coast.
He said he would take more time to decide whether to give them permission to step into the case in order to appeal his ruling.
The judge added that Oregon coastal coho were in no imminent danger of extinction and he wanted to do nothing to interfere with National Marine Fisheries Service biologists discussing whether the fish merit protection under his original ruling.
Patti Goldman, attorney for the environmental groups, said that if Hogan ultimately denies them permission to intervene, they would ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to grant that permission, as well as restore protection for the coho pending a final outcome of the case.
"The law is very strong on being allowed to intervene for appeal," she said.
"He sort of required us to do it the hard way, so we’ll do it the hard way," said David Bayles of the Pacific Rivers Council, one of the conservation groups seeking permission to appeal.
In his Sept. 13 ruling, Hogan found that the Marine Fisheries Service erred when it lumped hatchery fish and wild fish together in the same group, known as an evolutionarily significant unit, under the Endangered Species Act.
He found the agency was arbitrary and capricious when it extended protection only to wild fish, but not those raised in hatcheries, when there was no way to tell the difference between the two fish in the river. He sent the listing back to fisheries service for reconsideration using the best new science available.
Russell Brooks, attorney for the Alsea Valley Alliance, which brought the original case, said he was confident the group would continue to prevail. He added that he and the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm specializing in property rights, had not decided whether to bring similar cases against other protected salmon species.
"We think the National Marine Fisheries Service should go back and re-evaluate its hatchery policy from the bottom up," he said.
The agency has yet to say whether it will appeal the ruling or how it might reconsider the listing under Hogan’s instructions. The agency has until Nov. 9 to decide.
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