![]() Also, landowners in that region can now build roads and fix culverts without having to consider how they will affect salmon.Įmboldened property-rights groups and water users see Hogan's decision as a wedge that could force the government to remove protection for salmon and steelhead, from Northern California's Klamath Basin to eastern Washington's Columbia River Valley. As many as 12 federal timber sales, postponed due to the coho's protected status, are now being logged, and up to 40 additional sales are pending. ![]() ![]() ![]() Hogan's ruling immediately removed the Oregon coastal coho from protection under the Endangered Species Act, setting off a cascade of activity in the fish's habitat, which ranges from the Pacific Ocean up into the Columbia River Basin. Hogan found that it's illegal for the Service to designate hatchery and wild fish as the same populations of a species, but then extend protection only to wild stocks (HCN, 10/8/01: Coho salmon lose federal protection). Their lawyers were wrong, according to one federal judge. Our lawyers thought we had discretion to do this under the Endangered Species Act." "Listing the hatchery fish wouldn't benefit wild stocks it would just create a lot of red tape and a huge regulatory burden for anyone who wanted to do anything involving hatchery fish. "The approach we developed involved a lot of common sense," says Waples. After all, his research speaks a language of "evolutionary lineages" and "distinct population segments" - not exactly sexy stuff.īut Waples' work was central to the federal government's approach to a sticky issue: What is the difference between hatchery and wild stocks of the same fish population? Based on Waples' research, the Service determined that though some hatchery-bred fish should be classified as the same population group as wild species, they should not be part of the government's program for recovering wild stocks. When Robin Waples, a scientist for the National Marine Fisheries Service, spent the early '90s defining what constitutes populations of salmon and steelhead, he never imagined that his work would become the basis for a passionate debate. ![]()
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