[env-trinity] Klamath Falls Herald and News-Lamprey, sturgeon next for federal listing?

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2004/03/05/news/top_stories/top4.txt 
Lamprey, sturgeon next for federal listing? 
Published March 5, 2004 
By DYLAN DARLING 

A coalition of environmental groups is threatening to sue the federal government in an effort to get further 
analysis of whether several species of lamprey need to be added to the Endangered Species List. 

The notice of intent to sue came as three of the same groups were celebrating a court victory earlier in the 
week to get a similar study done for green sturgeon. 

Some of the lamprey and the green sturgeon are found in the lower reaches of the Klamath River, which is 
already home to a species of threatened coho salmon. 

U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco ordered federal fisheries scientists to reconsider their 
finding that sturgeon do not merit federal protection, saying the National Marine Fisheries Service's failure 
to take into account the large loss of spawning habitat didn't make sense. 

Both lamprey and sturgeon migrate between the Pacific Ocean and spawning beds in rivers. Neither species 
is harvested commercially. 

A dozen groups, including the Oregon Natural Resources Council, petitioned the Service to list four species of 
West-coast lamprey as threatened or endangered in January 2003. 

Wendell Wood, ONRC Southern Oregon field representative, said the Service has missed its deadlines to make 
decisions about whether to study the lamprey. 

 "What Fish and Wildlife is saying now is that they are simply not funding the study," he said. 

Whether federal money is available or not, Wood said, the lamprey species are in decline and could need to be 
listed. 

Curt Mullis, manager of the Wildlife Service's Klamath Falls office, said he has little information about the 
issue, other than some of the species are found downstream in the Klamath. 

 "There is not a whole lot we know at this point," he said. 

Wood said the condition of the lamprey and their populations are important because the fish are a popular 
food for salmon and trout. The eel-like jawless fish have a larval stage of four to six years, during which they 
look like worms, feed in the mud of stream beds, and become prey for trout, crayfish, and birds. 

In later stages, lampreys latch on to other kinds of fish, sucking nutrients from the hosts. 

Not much is known about the lampreys or the green sturgeon, except that their numbers are dropping, 
Wood said. 

Green sturgeon no longer spawn in the San Joaquin, South Fork Trinity and Eel rivers in California or the 
Umpqua. Limited spawning occurs in the Klamath, Rogue and Sacramento rivers. 

Sturgeon are large, long-lived fish. The green sturgeon is one of the smaller species, but still can grow to 
more than 7 feet long and weigh up to 350 pounds. The fish date back to the age of the dinosaurs. 

Jim Milbury, spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said the agency was still analyzing the 
judge's ruling and had no immediate comment. 

Wood said the Bush administration avoids having to list more species for protection by not funding studies 
for them. This forces the environmental groups to take the government to court, he added. 

 "We don't like to have to use the ESA as the only way to protect fish and wildlife," Wood said. "We should be 
trying to recover species before they need to be listed." 

Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, said the lawsuits are just another 
attempt by the environmental groups to get more water sent down the river from the Klamath Reclamation 
Project. 

He said the agencies' delays in funding studies could be a result of the "landslide" of lawsuits they have to deal 
with from groups like the ONRC. 

"They are trying to create a state of emergency that is not here," he said. 

On the Net: 
Oregon Natural Resources Council: www.onrc.org 

The Associated Press contributed to this story. 

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