[env-trinity] Irrigator petition to delist Klamath coho salmon rejected

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/09/12/18721544.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/13/1131355/-Irrigator-petition- 
to-delist-Klamath-coho-salmon-rejected

“Hopefully this will put to rest the assertion that achvuun* (the  
Karuk word for coho) are not native to the Klamath Basin," said Karuk  
Tribal Chairman Buster Attebery. "Our People have harvested this fish  
for time immemorial and now it’s time to focus on recovery.”





coho.gif

Irrigator petition to delist Klamath coho salmon rejected

by Dan Bacher

The federal government has decisively rejected the latest bid by the  
Siskiyou County Water Users Association (SCWUA) to remove Southern  
Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon from the Endangered  
Species list.

This is the fifth time in 3 years that SCWUA and Richard Gierak, the  
Petitioners, have unsuccessfully attempted to delist coho, a fish  
that until several decades ago was abundant in the Klamath and other  
California coastal rivers.

The take of coho (or silver) salmon is prohibited in all California  
ocean and river fisheries to protect central coast and southern  
Oregon-northern California coast coho stocks. Both stocks are in  
severe decline and are listed under both the state and federal  
Endangered Species Acts.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published its denial in  
the Federal Register on Monday, September 10 (http://www.gpo.gov/ 
fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-09-10/pdf/2012-22209.pdf).

The attempt by these groups to mount a legal and scientific argument  
in favor of delisting failed to meet any reasonable standard of  
merit, according to NMFS.

"We find that the petition does not present substantial scientific or  
commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be  
warranted," NMFS stated.

Key to the Petitioners’ claims is the assertion that the coho are  
"not native" to the Klamath and California .

"Coho were not native to California waters," the latest petition  
stated. "Failed plantings in 1895, 1899 by Fish & Game were then  
followed by introduction of Coho Salmon from Cascadia, Oregon which  
appeared to have a minimal effect of survival in California  
waters." (http://www.siskiyoucountywaterusers.com/announcements.html)

However, NMFS addressed this claim back in their denial of previous  
petitions in October 2011. The argument is based almost solely on a  
2002 Fish and Game reference to a 1913 California Fish and Game  
Report that NMFS found to be taken out of context, according to a  
statement from the Karuk Tribe.

A NMFS 2007 response to earlier petition stated, “The quotes that  
the petitioners provided from the 2002 California Department of Fish  
and Game report, taken from the 1913 California Fish and Game  
Commission report, are taken out of context. The 2002 report actually  
concludes the opposite of the petitioners: that coho salmon are  
native to the upper Klamath River system, and historically occurred  
there prior to hatchery stocking.”

Earlier petitions also revealed "an utter failure" by the Petitioners  
to understand which specific Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) of  
coho was even relevant to the discussion.

The Petitioners tried to correct this shortcoming in the most recent  
petition, but NMFS responded that the additional information provided  
wasn't relevant to the petition.

“We carefully analyzed this additional information and found that it  
is: Not relevant to the petitioned action… not supported by  
literature citations or other references in the Petition…and  
therefore constitutes unsupported assertions; or it simply does not  
support the petitioned action (e.g., information about coho and  
Chinook salmon fishing seasons in Oregon streams that are not within  
the range of this ESU)," according to NMFS.

“Hopefully this will put to rest the assertion that achvuun (the  
Karuk word for coho) are not native to the Klamath Basin," said Karuk  
Tribal Chairman Buster Attebery. "Our People have harvested this fish  
for time immemorial and now it’s time to focus on recovery.”

The Klamath was once the third most productive salmon river in the  
U.S. with up to 1.1 million adult fish spawning annually, including  
chinook, coho, pinks and chum salmon as well as abundant steelhead.

For thousands of years Native People, including the Klamath, Karuk,  
Hoopa and Yurok Tribes, sustained themselves on the bounty of the river.

Unfortunately, the once abundant Southern Oregon-Northern California  
coho are now listed as "threatened" on the federal Endangered Species  
List, and are considered "endangered" by the states of California and  
Oregon.

According to the Klamath Riverkeeper, less than 70% of streams where  
coho historically lived in the Klamath Basin still contain small  
populations of coho, and in some places, such as the Trinity River,  
wild coho stocks are at as little as 4% of their previous numbers  
(NRC 2004).

It is also difficult to tell to what extent hatchery production of  
coho supplement wild stocks, though one study estimated that 90% of  
adult coho returned to Iron Gate and Trinity River hatcheries for  
spawning (Brown 1994).

"Many factors can be blamed for the Klamath’s decline, but none are  
greater than the dams which stand between salmon and their home  
spawning grounds in the Upper Basin," according to the Karuk Tribe. 
(http://www.karuk.us/press/bring_salmon_home.php)

For more information, contact: Craig Tucker, Klamath Coordinator,  
Karuk Tribe: 916-207-8294. 
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