BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
An Endangered Species Act listing is “not warranted at this time” for Olympic Peninsula steelhead, according to a final finding set to be published on the Federal Register tomorrow, a U-turn from what seemed like a looming listing for Washington’s “crown jewel” fish.
The finding follows a deep dive by a specially convened federal status review team that evaluated the distinct population segment inhabiting rivers from Ocean Shores to nearly Port Angeles and said the stock was at “moderate risk of extinction.” That November 2024 determination was prompted by an initial 90-day finding in early 2023 that said a listing might in fact be needed. Two environmental organizations had petitioned in summer 2022 for a threatened or endangered designation.
But in their new 44-page final determination, the National Marine Fisheries Service says they took into account “the best available scientific and commercial information” as well as experts on the species in making their official 12-month finding on the petition.
“Based on the foregoing information, we determine OP steelhead do not warrant listing at this time. Primary factors leading to this conclusion include: habitat quality and connectivity are generally good within the DPS and are benefitting from ongoing restoration efforts; spatial distribution is good; State and Tribal co-managers have implemented improved harvest and hatchery practices and reduced harvest significantly in recent years; abundance trends suggest declining populations, but the response to recent management actions has yet to be seen; and while environmental variation is expected to have some negative impacts on the DPS, there could also be positive impacts while the precise localized effects are unclear. Additionally, we did not identify any portions of the DPS that were both significant and facing a higher level of extinction risk than the DPS rangewide. Therefore, we determine listing is not warranted. NMFS intends to continue to monitor the status of the OP steelhead DPS and work closely with the State and Tribal co-managers,” the determination says.
It’s the second big decision by the Trump Administration’s NMFS affecting an important West Coast distinct fish population. Late last year, the feds said listing Oregon Coast Chinook was not warranted, a decision blasted by one of the petitioners, the Center for Biological Diversity.
Olympic Peninsula steelhead were petitioned for ESA protections by the Wild Fish Conservancy of Duvall and The Conservation Angler of Edmonds in August 2022, a year after a record-low return of 25,723 wild winter-runs back to OP streams as well as the rest of Washington’s outer coast in 2021.
Last year, with either a listing proposal or not-warranted finding dragging on as NMFS was pared of staffers, the two orgs won a court settlement that required a decision by December 1, 2025. That was extended into this month as a result of fall’s long federal government shutdown.
While the finding is set to be officially published on the Federal Register on Wednesday, January 14, today is the deadline for it to have been issued.
In reaching their conclusion that the stock was at moderate risk of extinction in the waning days of the Biden Administration, NMFS’s status review team had looked at factors such as habitat, harvest, disease and predation, regulatory protections, and natural or manmade influences.
Now, NMFS says it is “unable to find the (distinct population segment) faces a high or moderate risk of extinction now or in the foreseeable future.” They define the foreseeable future as 40 to 60 years.
This new final determination is sure to set off much outrage, while it also may protect OlyPen fisheries from whatever it is that Pugetropolis steelheading is anymore due in part to 2007’s listing there. It also holds some interesting nuggets about what may be coming from WDFW and West End tribes.
“The co-managers have also committed to changes to hatchery and harvest regulations (see Co manager Olympic Steelhead Working Group 2025), most notably efforts to mark all hatchery fish, testing of natural-derived broodstock in the Quillayute, evaluation of the March 15 management cut-off date, updating catch-and-release mortality, and expanding methods for abundance estimation. NMFS will continue to work with the co-managers to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing regulatory mechanisms and the future impact of these commitments on the species’ status,” state the determination.
Along with changes on the hatchery side, on the regulatory front, state and tribal steelhead seasons since 2020 have been set by a special process in early winter and based on the preseason forecast. Angling has been more restricted, and most recently, the coveted April fishery has been written out of the permanent regulations.
And that, unfortunately, is going to have to be all the time I have for this this morning.
