Friday September 23, 2022
Northwest Sportsman —
The clock is ticking for the feds to decide whether an Endangered Species Act listing may be warranted for Washington’s Olympic Peninsula steelhead.
The Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler requested the National Marine Fisheries Service list the prized fish as either threatened or endangered in an August 1 petition, initiating a process that could lead to further reviews and possibly a listing down the road if one is found to be warranted, or not.
“We have 90 days to make an initial finding as to whether it merits a full review, and that is where we are currently,” stated Michael Milstein, a NMFS spokesman for the West Coast Region, early this afternoon.
It not only has implications for the steelhead but state and tribal fisheries and remote communities that otherwise are quiet in winter.
Rivers that fall under the petition include some of the Evergreen State’s “crown jewel” fisheries, including the Quillayute and its tribs, the Dickey, Sol Duc, Calawah and Bogachiel, as well as the Hoh, Queets and Quinault, along with all other streams between the Copalis and Lyre Rivers.