Longfin smelt doesn’t qualify for federal listing

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finds the longfin smelt population in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta doesn’t meet the legal criteria for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. The service said last week, however, it will initiate a broader evaluation of the species throughout its range, which includes San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as well as other West Coast estuaries, extending as far north as Alaska.

The petition to list the longfin smelt as threatened or endangered was filed in August 2007. The petition asserted that the Bay-Delta longfin population is physically and reproductively isolated from populations farther north, that it’s genetically different and lives in a unique ecological setting. The petition also claimed that reduced outflow caused by water exports from the delta have contributed to decline of the longfin smelt.

The FWS decided, however, that because some Bay-Delta longfin smelt migrate into the Pacific Ocean and can travel up the coast to breed with longfin farther north, they fail to meet the criteria for protection as a distinct population segment.

Commenting on the FWS findings, Kari Fisher, associate counsel for the California Farm Bureau Federation Natural Resources and Environmental Division, said, “This decision highlights the need for sound science before a determination on the status of a species is made.”

Read more from the California Farm Bureau Federation by clicking here.

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