ELR Citation: ELR 20145
No(s). CV06-0483-JCC (W.D. Wash. Jun 13, 2007)

A district court held that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries' (NOAA)-Fisheries) Hatchery Listing Policy (HLP) for Pacific salmon and steelhead trout violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The HLP provides guidance on how hatchery-raised fish are to be treated when making decisions about whether salmon and steelhead populations should be listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA. The HLP directs that so long as they are sufficiently genetically similar, hatchery fish and wild or naturally spawning fish will be considered the same "species" and will both be analyzed in deciding whether the species is threatened or endangered. Applying this policy, NOAA-Fisheries changed the listing of a steelhead population that inhabits the Upper Columbia River from endangered to threatened. The central purpose of the ESA, and the organizing principle upon which ESA listing determinations must be made, is the protection and promotion of endangered and threatened species to the point of being naturally self-sustaining. The HLP, while not free from ambiguity, mandates that status determinations be based on the entire evolutionarily significant unit, including both natural and hatchery fish. This assessment method departs from the ESA's central purpose. Consequently, both the HLP and the Upper Columbia River steelhead listing must be set aside.