Federal wildlife officials decided Dec. 4 not to list Oregon Coast Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered, ending multiple requests from conservation groups to give extra protections to the iconic fish.
The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a final decision not to list Chinook, in coastal watersheds from the Columbia to the Klamath, under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Three conservation groups that sought the listing said the fish’s numbers had declined by more than half compared to its historical numbers, and often more. They were particularly worried about spring Chinook.
“By denying protected status to Chinook salmon on the West Coast, the Trump administration put political and private interests ahead of our dwindling wild spring Chinook salmon runs,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the group’s that sought the listing.
Across years of study, NMFS decided the fish “were at low risk of extinction” with “high overall abundance with numerous, well-distributed spawning populations across their ranges,” NMSF spokesman Michael Milstein said.
The conservation groups — the Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity and Umpqua Watersheds — first petitioned to protect only the spring run of Chinook in 2019. NMFS responded that it couldn’t consider only the spring run, and not the fall run, so denied the petition.
“It was frustrating because good science shows these fish are genetically unique,” Miller said.
The groups refiled the petition in 2022, which was denied earlier this month.
Chinook, Oregon’s largest species of salmon, once numbered a half million spawning fish from the Columbia to the Elk River. Today, those numbers are between 100,000 to 200,000. From the Elk to the Klamath, historic numbers were around 300,000 while today, those numbers are between 40,000 to 150,000.
Conservation groups said spring Chinook are in much more dire shape, with 2,500 to 5,000 fish from the Columbia to the Elk, and 3,000 to 10,000 fish in the southern range.
“If they considered the spring-only run, it would clearly warrant listing,” Miller said. “In general we disagree with their analysis. They’re downplaying the threats facing Chinook. The hatchery production of fish masks the decline of our wild fish.”
Milstein said, even in just the southern range, there were more than 50,000 naturally spawning fish, “most of which are natural-origin and not from hatcheries,” he said in an email.
“Their high productivity takes advantage of the healthy habitat in many coastal streams, allowing the fish to maintain their abundance even with relatively high exploitation rates from fishing or other factors,” Milstein added.
Miller said that by not listing the fish, they won’t get funding for removal of dams that could easily come out and expand spring-run habitat. He said they’d look toward state programs to improve fish habitat.
While Chinook have struggled in general across Oregon, coho salmon have been a major success story on the Oregon Coast. Listed as threatened in the 1990s, they may end up being removed from the Endangered Species list in coming years.