| Coho Plan Out, But Will Listening Follow: By Tim Mckay |
|
An expensive and detailed plan to recover coho salmon—with a $5 billion price tag and a list of 1,000 tasks—will come before the California Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento on December 16.
|
| |
December 2003
The commission plunged itself into a legal nether world in August, 2002, when it found that coho warranted a listing under the California Endangered Species Act but then failed to accept its legal obligation to rule on the listing.
State listing has been sought for years by the NEC and other members of the Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Coalition. The fish already has been deemed threatened or endangered in various locations under the federal Endangered Species Act.
In lieu of listing, the commission directed the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to poll stakeholders and come up with a recovery plan.
Much of the coho’s habitat in California is in tributaries on private or corporate land. That’s why in the Scott and Shasta valleys alone, DFG estimates it would cost $1 billion to secure rights to enough water for the fish.
Parched
The Shasta, fed by snowmelt from the mountain that bears its name, has been depleted by water diversions primarily to grow alfalfa. The loss of cold, clean water throughout northwestern California has been particularly hard on long-abundant coho, summer steelhead and spring-run chinook.
While some major culprits such as logging stand out in the steep decline of the coho since the 1970s, its demise has been a prime example of cumulative effects.
In the 11 years since the NEC, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and others first petitioned the federal government to protect coho, the species has been literally studied almost to death.
It has declined 70% since the 1960s. Where it is found now, it has dropped in some places to just 6% of its former abundance in the 1940s. Recent studies said trends continue downwards.
Gail Newton, state recovery project manager for coho, says much of the multi-billion-dollar cost of recovery can come from existing state and federal programs. But stakeholders insist that regulators prevent more damage until the money is obtained.
The commission meeting on the recovery plan and the possibility of finalizing a listing starts at 10:30 a.m. in the Coastal Hearing Room of the California EPA, 1001 I St. in Sacramento.
|
|
Updated Monday, December 08, 2003 |
|
