Suit filed over chinook-salmon harvest

A regional coalition of fish conservationists went to court Tuesday in Seattle to try to force the federal government to re-evaluate its management of Puget Sound chinook salmon so more of the species can return to spawn.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court says a salmon-harvest-management plan approved in 2004 jeopardizes the recovery of chinook, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

"This goal is kind of closing the circle in terms of a comprehensive recovery plan for Puget Sound chinook," said Bill Bakke of Native Fish Society in Portland, which joined the Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance, Washington Trout and the Clark-Skamania Flyfishers in bringing the lawsuit.

The groups are suing the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife over a plan developed by Washington state and Puget Sound tribes to guide salmon catches in the area until 2010.

NOAA officials approved the resource-management plan in 2004; however, it violates the Endangered Species Act because it does not meet criteria the agency set for approving salmon-harvest plans, according to the lawsuit.

For example, the present harvest, when combined with catches in Canada, Alaska and off the Washington coast, doesn't allow enough listed salmon to reach spawning beds in rivers. NOAA didn't consider alternatives for fishing practices, locations or methods to adjust for the total harvest, the suit contends.

When NOAA approved the plan, it also did not base harvest-management thresholds on its own population targets for recovery of chinook-salmon species in Puget Sound, said Svend Brandt-Erichsen, a lawyer representing the coalition. Instead, it set targets often less than one-tenth of NOAA goals.

The harvest rate on Puget Sound chinook salmon, including important populations in the Cedar, Nooksack, Skagit, Skykomish rivers, ranges from 20 percent to 75 percent, depending on the river, Brandt-Erichsen said.

"We're not letting enough of these native fish escape harvest to go back to rivers and spawn naturally to save them from going extinct," said Gary Loomis, president of the Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance.

Conservationists also contend NOAA is obligated under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to re-evaluate the management plan after an August report from the Pacific Salmon Commission that showed the impact of Canadian fisheries on Puget Sound chinook is much higher than previously thought.

The groups want the court to order NOAA to withdraw its approval of the plan and revise salmon-harvest regulations.

"Harvest management's primary goal should be to deliver enough spawners to the rivers," Bakke said. "Fishery managers can't recover and maintain viable wild, native populations, or comply with the ESA, without meeting that fundamental responsibility."

Bob Lohn, regional director of NOAA Fisheries, said his agency received a copy of the lawsuit but had not had a chance to thoroughly review it Tuesday.

The agency contends the recovery of salmon populations was central to its consideration of the harvest plan.

"We feel very confident that the harvest levels today are consistent with recovery," Lohn said.

It's unfortunate, he said, that the issue went to court, but he hopes to continue to work with the groups.

"The Puget Sound region has had a remarkable success story through a collaborative effort of 150 state, tribal and local groups which laid the groundwork for salmon recovery," Lohn said. "This effort, rather than litigation, holds the best promise for restoration of the fisheries."