Contact:  Brian Gorman                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
          (301) 713-2370 (O)            Aug. 17, 1994
          (202) 667-2324 (H)



                 
NORTHWEST'S SNAKE RIVER CHINOOK

                   
RECLASSIFIED AS "ENDANGERED"

The emergency action, taken by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, will remain in effect until April 17, 1995, during which time the federal fisheries agency will publish a rule proposing to make the classification permanent and provide the opportunity for the public to comment on the proposal.

Snake River chinook had been classified as "threatened" since April 1992. Since then, stocks have continued to decline, with adult fish returning from the ocean in some cases in lower numbers than at the time the species was listed.

Under the Endangered Species Act, a threatened species is likely to become endangered; an endangered species is likely to become extinct.

One population returns from the ocean beginning every spring and is known as spring/summer chinook. Its returning numbers have ranged from 5,000 to 13,000 in recent years. Scientists with the fisheries service estimate this year's spring/summer return will be only 600 to 800 fish, divided into as many as 38 local "subpopulations" in different rivers throughout the Snake River basin.

The fisheries service estimates that the average number of spawning chinook for some of these subpopulations could be as low as 15 to 20 fish.

"Population levels this low drastically reduce the gene pool for these fish and can pose catastrophic risks that threaten the very existence of the species," said Rolland A. Schmitten, director of the fisheries service in Washington, D.C.

A second population of Snake River chinook salmon, which returns in the fall, is also at a very low level. After factoring in mortality rates from the salmon's perilous upriver journey, the fisheries service estimates as few as 300 adults will reach Lower Granite Dam this year. Lower Granite Dam, near Pomeroy, Wash., is the uppermost dam on the Snake River with fish passage facilities. This fall's returns are expected to be the second lowest on record.

Although the adult chinook that will return to the Snake River system beginning in the spring of 1995 are still maturing in the Pacific Ocean, early indicators of the size of that return look no better for either the spring/summer population or the fall population.

"While some improvements have been made since the Snake River chinook salmon was listed as threatened more than two years ago, they haven't been enough," Schmitten said.

He added that the fisheries service must take "immediate action to reverse the decline of these salmon populations."

"Federal agencies should adopt a more conservative approach to protect Snake River chinook salmon from ongoing and future threats, including hydropower operations, loss of habitat, overfishing and hatchery practices that can harm returning adults," Schmitten said.

Salmon populations throughout the Pacific Northwest are at very low -- sometimes record-low -- levels. In addition to the Snake River chinook salmon, the fisheries service has listed Snake River sockeye salmon and Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon as endangered. The agency recently proposed listing the cutthroat trout from the Umpqua River in southern Oregon as endangered.

The fisheries service is also reviewing petitions to list as endangered or threatened coho salmon and steelhead populations throughout their West Coast range, and the pink, chinook, and chum salmon populations in Washington's Hood Canal and Puget Sound.