Listing
A species is placed on the Endangered Species List either through direct action by the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service or via a petition process. Any individual or group can file a petition to list a species following the guidelines laid out in the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and in fact most species have been listed as a result of these petitions. After receiving a petition, the Fish and Wildlife Service has one year to determine if the species is eligible for listing, and then either places it directly on the Endangered Species List or on the Candidate List for future listing. Unfortunately, this deadline rarely is met and the listing process often takes many years. For candidate species the situation is even bleaker. Once a species ends up on the Candidate List it often stays there indefinitely while it continues to decline in numbers or shows no sign of recovering without further protection. A listing under the Endangered Species Act is important because once the species is listed, it is provided important protections such as critical habitat, recovery planning, jeopardy avoidance, and protection from take.
View the listing status of aquatic species in OR, WA, CA, ID, and MT
Read about our successful efforts to protect the Oregon Coast coho with a listing under the ESA.
Read about why a federal listing is important to help imperiled species, such as the coho
Read a press release about our success in court in our efforts to list the Southwestern Washington/Columbia River coastal cutthroat trout.
Read more about our work to gain listing protection for imperiled amphibians.
Listing Needed to Protect Wild Populations
PRC works actively to ensure that ESA listings are used as Congress intended: to protect wild salmon and steelhead. The goals of the ESA include protection of wild species and their habitats, and the presence of hatchery fish is a misguided basis for delisting or downlisting wild stocks. Read more about our efforts to protect wild fish.
Read about our successful defense of ESA listings for 16 salmon stocks.
