Kokanee fail to garner protection

The kokanee of Issaquah Creek, ruby-red fish so rare that none have been seen in seven years, weren't important enough to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the federal government announced Tuesday.

Four years after King County Executive Ron Sims declared the summer run of Lake Sammamish kokanee extinct, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally responded to years of requests to save it.

The answer: No.

Tuesday, biologists with the agency said that the landlocked salmon, which once wriggled by the thousands up Issaquah Creek to spawn, were indeed genetically different from the other fish in the lake. But they weren't significant enough that their loss would alter the fate of the region's entire kokanee population.

"Did losing them mean there would be no more kokanee in Lake Sammamish? No," said Doug Zimmer, Fish and Wildlife spokesman. "Does it mean there will be no more in Lake Washington? No. Does it mean there will be no more in the state of Washington? No."

Few were surprised by the decision. Oddly, it may not even prove to be the last gasp for a run of fish that numbered more than 15,000 just two decades ago.

Since the mid-1970s, a combination of fish-blocking culverts, pollution and muddy runoff from suburban development all helped push the kokanee's decline. At one time, workers at the Issaquah Fish Hatchery actually killed kokanee fry because they carried a virus that could harm sockeye salmon being introduced into Lake Washington.

In 2000, King County biologists spotted the last two kokanee ever seen heading up Issaquah Creek. At the time, late runs of kokanee, which spawn up other creeks in winter, were also shrinking. Environmental groups asked the government to save the disappearing summer run, in part because the environmental changes a listing would force on the creek system might also help save the winter runs.

"It was unlikely that a decision, even back then, would have amounted to much for the summer run — it was too late," said David St. John, a King County water-resources manager.

But the federal agency ignored the request for years, saying it was swamped with requests to protect other species.

So earlier this year, local officials began their own efforts to help the late-season runs. The city of Sammamish is removing or widening culverts, and others are restoring winter-run creeks. This fall the county is hoping to breed juvenile kokanee in a hatchery. Federal biologists even think that one day kokanee might eventually recolonize Issaquah Creek on their own.

But in the meantime, the county and environmental groups this summer asked Fish and Wildlife, again, to use the ESA to help kokanee — this time the winter runs.

This time, St. John insisted, "we expect to hear something soon."

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com