Conservationists and Commercial Fishermen Move to Defend Klamath River Salmon

Eugene, OR -- Thirteen environmental and fishing groups today sought to intervene in a federal court lawsuit that challenges the protected status of coho salmon in the Klamath River basin. The lawsuit, filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, asks the court to strip Endangered Species Act protections from coho along the Southern Oregon and Northern California coast. It mimics earlier litigation that argued salmon born and raised in hatcheries must be included with wild salmon when considering endangered species status.

The Klamath suit is the latest in a host of efforts to strip ESA protections from salmon stocks up and down the Pacific coast following a controversial court opinion in September.

"Our intention is to inject some actual science and salmon context into a situation clearly being fueled by politics and misinformation," said Jeff Curtis of Trout Unlimited. "We can't allow wild salmon and the protections they need to be used as pawns in a broader political game, in the Klamath, the courts or anywhere."

WaterWatch of Oregon, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pacific Rivers Council, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Association, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Siskiyou Regional Education Project, Center for Biological Diversity and others, represented in court by Earthjustice, seek to intervene in the case to defend the fish, the Endangered Species Act listing, and their required protections.

Intervenor status would allow salmon advocates to present arguments in the case, and to ensure that needed salmon restoration efforts continue. Conservationists and commercial fishermen seek to intervene on the side of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the defendants. The groups worry that the Bush Administration, which oversees NMFS, will not mount a vigorous defense of the coho on its own.

"If rolling back environmental protections were an Olympic sport, the Bush Administration would be gold medal winners," said Bob Hunter of WaterWatch. "We need to be involved in this case to make certain someone is speaking up for wild fish and healthy rivers."

The anti-salmon lawsuit is based on a September 2001 ruling that stripped endangered species status from wild Oregon coast coho. However, in an emergency appeal brought by many of the same conservation and fishing groups, the court reinstated endangered species protections for the fish. Yet salmon opponents continue to jump on the bandwagon, seeking to deprive salmon and steelhead stocks up and down the West Coast of needed protection.

"This delisting lawsuit is just a thinly veiled attempt by industrial agribusiness to throw out protections for salmon so they can continue to pollute streams and dry up rivers with impunity," said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Fishing communities have a right to exist. We also have a right to rivers with both water and fish."

The lawsuit would dismantle protections for coho salmon in coastal rivers and streams stretching from Cape Blanco, Oregon, to Punta Gorda, California, including the Rogue and the Klamath Rivers. Coho salmon throughout this region have suffered as their birth streams have been degraded by excessive water use, dams, poor logging practices, and water pollution.

"It's absurd to say we dont need to protect wild salmon simply because hatcheries can churn out millions of fish in concrete tanks," said Michael Mayer of Earthjustice. "Just as we want grizzlies in Yellowstone and not just in zoos, we want salmon to thrive in the wild."

Groups seeking to intervene in defense of coho salmon:

WaterWatch of Oregon, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pacific Rivers Council, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Trout Unlimited, Sierra Club, Siskiyou Regional Education Project, Klamath Forest Alliance Northcoast Environmental Center, Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center.