ESA protections will continue for Pacific salmon, steelhead
Federal protections for four West Coast salmon and steelhead species will remain in place for at least another five years, even as some populations have made progress toward recovery, according to NOAA. The decision, based on formal status reviews, means restoration of salmon runs will continue for California coastal chinook salmon, central California coast steelhead, California Central Valley steelhead and Southern Oregon/Northern California coast coho salmon. The combined fishery, which extends from the San Francisco Bay to the southern Oregon coast, includes key river runs from California’s Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada. Those habitat areas continue to “suffer from habitat loss as development and other threats compromise spawning and rearing habitat [that are] particularly important in preparing young salmon for a life at sea,” NOAA Fisheries said last week.
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