Oregon Coast Chinook do not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act.
So says the National Marine Fisheries Service in a notice published on the Federal Register today. The feds had been petitioned to list two populations – Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal Chinook – but a lengthy analysis by a status review team found it is unnecessary.
“Based on our consideration of the best available scientific and commercial information, as summarized here and in the status review report, we conclude that Chinook salmon in the OC and SONCC [Evolutionary Significant Units], inclusive of all run types, are not presently in danger of extinction nor are they likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of their range. Consequently, the OC and SONCC ESUs do not warrant listing under the ESA,” NMFS concluded.
In August 2022, three environmental groups – Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity, and Umpqua Watersheds – asked for either a threatened or endangered listing, and a 90-day finding subsequently issued by NMFS suggested there was enough information that it might be warranted.
That kicked off a deep dive that looked at factors such as habitat, harvest, disease and predation, regulatory protections, and natural or manmade influences on Chinook. The OC population includes Chinook from the Elk River north to the Columbia; the SONCC population includes kings from Euchre Creek to the lower Klamath.
While the review team noted that a few Oregon Coast Chinook stocks are struggling, overall, the population is stable.
NMFS says that though past practices impacted habitat, its destruction and modification “is not a factor limiting the rangewide viability” of the OC population today or in the future. Reviewers say SONCC habitat is “improving slowly” thanks to habitat work, and those benefits are expected to continue.
While some reviewers expressed worry about “high total explotation rates” on OC fall Chinook, overutilization isn’t limiting or expected to limit its viability. NMFS concluded SONCC weren’t being overharvested either, nor were they likely to be in the future.
Disease was only a low risk for both populations.
“Marine predation impacts have increased over time, exceeding harvest in recent years,” NMFS added, but says overall and including illegal freshwater introduction of smallmouth bass and Umpqua pikeminnow in the Umpqua and Coquille, and Rogue, respectively, “predation poses a low risk to the rangewide viability” of OC Chinook as well as SONCC kings.
Reviewers also concluded hatcheries and current regulations pose a low risk to both populations’ viability as well.
However, climate change and environmental swings “may pose a moderate risk” for coastal Chinook via broadscale warming waters and lower summer flows, though the reviewers noted uncertainty around local affects. Many coastal rivers are expected to “remain within the healthy range of salmon.”
“The SRT concluded, and we concur, that the OC Chinook salmon ESU is at low risk of extinction,” NMFS stated. The primary factors leading to this conclusion include relatively high total abundance, with multiple populations having natural-origin spawning abundance of >10,000 spawners in typical years, and total ESU abundance commonly >100,000 spawners. The high total exploitation rates (often exceeding 50 percent for most populations), although a source of some concern, are also evidence of relatively high productivity, because the populations are (generally) maintaining their abundance despite higher harvest rates. An analysis of the spatial structure and diversity factors also indicate low risk. The ESU consists of numerous, well-distributed spawning populations, indicating that there is low risk associated with spatial structure. The presence of spring- and summer-run fish distributed throughout many of the basins indicates that the ESU as a whole contains considerable life-history diversity. There is some concern over the potential effects of the long-term, segregated hatchery programs in the Trask and Nestucca rivers. However, because there is relatively limited hatchery production rangewide (when compared to natural production), we conclude that hatcheries pose a low risk to the rangewide diversity of the ESU.”
The petition to list OC and SONCC under ESA was one of a slate launched by environmental groups in the early 2020s.
In September, NMFS found Washington Coast Chinook “most likely at low risk of extinction,” according to a federal status review, potentially lowering the odds of an eventual Endangered Species Act listing for the population.
The feds are also under a court agreement to issue a key finding on Olympic Peninsula steelhead by December 1. They have already found that a listing “may be warranted” for what some consider to be Washington’s “crown jewel” fish.
Last month, WDFW tightened up regulations to protect late-returning winter steelhead and outmigrating kelts.
