Monday June 30, 2025
Courthouse News Service —
In a move environmentalists are hailing as an important victory for Chinook salmon conservation, the federal government has agreed to decide this year whether the fish warrants federal protections.
By Nov. 3, the National Marine Fisheries Service must decide whether so-called Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal varieties of Chinook salmon warrant protections under the Endangered Species Act.
By Jan. 2 of next year, feds must do the same for Washington Coast spring-run Chinook salmon, according to a settlement agreement from Thursday.
The Center for Biological Diversity — joined by the Native Fish Society, Umpqua Watersheds, and Pacific Rivers — in February sued the service and two top officials after the service failed to issue 12-month findings on the groups’ petitions to list the fish.
“This agreement requires a decision that is already overdue,” said Michael Morrison, chair of Pacific Rivers. “Science and law are crystal clear. These unique and endangered salmon urgently need and deserve protection.”
Chinook salmon, also known as king salmon, have faced numerous threats to their population, including habitat loss from logging and road-building, interbreeding with hatchery-raised fish, commercial fishery overharvest and migration barriers created by dams. Varying ocean temperatures due to climate change also pose a threat.
“King salmon are not just icons, they’re indicators of the health of the Pacific Ocean and Northwest ecosystems,” Mark Sherwood, Native Fish Society’s executive director, said in a statement.
In particular, early returning spring-run fish are important for the health of the overall Chinook population — as well as for the ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.
Spring-run Chinook are one of the primary food sources for Southern Resident orcas, which are endangered. With fewer and smaller spring Chinook to feed on, orcas have to exert more energy and travel farther to find food.
“Over the past 20 years, I’ve personally watched this population decline, and we only had 28 spawners return in 2018,” Stanley Petrowski from Umpqua Watersheds said in a statement. “The threats to this magnificent keystone species have lurked in the shadows for decades. This settlement recognizes that these threats have been neglected for far too long.”
Chinook salmon are born in freshwater streams and migrate to the ocean as they reach adulthood. Towards the end of their life cycle, they return to their natal streams to reproduce.
Populations of both the Oregon and California varieties of Chinook salmon have dwindled significantly, such that they no longer even exist in some river basins, the groups wrote in their complaint. Meanwhile, in at least one river basin, the population of spring-run Chinook salmon has fallen to an average of only around 100 fish during annual spawning runs, according to the groups.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the National Marine Fisheries Service also agreed to pay the groups $9,000 in attorney fees.
“The government has taken far too long deciding whether to protect these imperiled Chinook salmon,” Jeremiah Scanlan, legal fellow at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “These deadlines will hold officials accountable.”
The groups first petitioned the service for the protections in August 2022. In January 2023, the service published its findings, concluding that listing the fish may be warranted under the Endangered Species Act.
In July 2023, the groups submitted another petition requesting that the service list the Washington Coast spring-run Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered. The service in December of that year again concluded that listing may be warranted.
The service is required to publish a 12-month finding after receiving a petition to determine whether listing is warranted or not. By November 2024, when no such findings were published by the service, the groups informed the government of their intent to sue.
Granting federal protections to the salmon would result in a comprehensive recovery plan for the species and further prohibit any “taking” of its population. That includes fishing, hunting, shooting, killing, capturing, collecting or otherwise harming the fish. Import and export, including both interstate and foreign trade of the fish, would also be prohibited.