Eugene, OR – Twelve
conservation organizations in Oregon, California
and Washington have filed a lawsuit in federal
District Court to require the US Fish & Wildlife
Service, under the federal Endangered Species
Act (ESA), to take the legally required steps to
protect four species of lampreys as threatened
or endangered.
"The beloved bald eagle is still on this
earth because of the protections of the
Endangered Species Act", said Penny Lind,
Executive Director for Umpqua Watersheds. "While
these lamprey are some of Oregon's least
charismatic wildlife, we cannot allow them to
slip into extinction. Why? Lamprey tell us about
the health of our rivers and streams. All
Oregonians need clean water to drink, swim and
fish. In protecting the lamprey, we are
protecting the precious streams and rivers that
make Oregon a great place to live."
On January 27, 2003, a broad coalition of
West Coast conservation organizations -
concerned about recent, severe declines in
population numbers for Pacific lamprey, river
lamprey, western brook lamprey, and Kern brook
lamprey -- petitioned the Service to list the
species as threatened or endangered.
While the lamprey petitioning effort has
already increased public and researcher support
for protecting the species, to date, the USFWS
has failed to make the legally required 90-day
and 12-month findings on the petition, most
recently informing the petitioners that the
agency does not "anticipate making a finding in
Fiscal Year 2004." Meanwhile, lamprey
populations, and their stream and river habitats
continue to decline without the benefit of any
ESA protection," Lind said.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to
follow straightforward procedural requirements
of the Endangered Species Act," said Amy Atwood,
of the Western Environmental Law Center,
representing the petitioners. "This coalition of
conservationists is giving the Service one last
chance to meet its responsibilities before they
will hold it accountable (for its inexcusable
failure to act)."
Lamprey scarcity became a conservation
concern in the early 1990s when tribal fish
managers, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
and other researchers noted that populations of
Pacific lamprey were declining to perilously low
numbers. Similar to Pacific salmon declines,
Pacific lamprey show a dramatic declining trend
throughout their range from California to the
Columbia River portions of their range.
Counts of Pacific lamprey on the Snake River
declined from 50,000 in the early 1960s to less
than a thousand during the 1990s. Counts in
Oregon on the North Umpqua River declined from
46,785 in 1966 to less than 50 annually since
1995. Counts on the Rogue River ranged from 155
to 2,370 since 1993, but abundance is believed
to be much below historic numbers.
"The declines are dramatic, widespread, and
troubling, and human impacts to lamprey
freshwater habitats have been severe and
cumulative," said Rich Nawa, Ecologist for
Siskiyou Regional Education Project.
All west coast lamprey species' populations
have been heavily impacted by water
developments, poor agricultural and forestland
management practices, and rapid urbanization of
many watersheds," said Jeff Miller, Research
Associate for the Center for Biological
Diversity. "Lamprey are vulnerable to habitat
losses due to reduced river flows, water
diversions, dredging, streambed scouring,
channelization, inadequate protection of stream
side vegetation, chemical pollution, and impeded
passage due to dams and poorly designed road
culverts. Introduction of exotic fish predators,
such as smallmouth bass, has also been a factor
in the decline of lamprey," Miller said.
"Not all lamprey species migrate to the
ocean, nor do all species even prey on other
fish, as is commonly misstated," said Wendell
Wood, Southern Oregon Field Representative for
the Oregon Natural Resources Council.
"Information regarding efforts to control
non-native sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus),
which have caused harm to other fish species in
the Great Lakes, has led to unfounded prejudice
toward native west coast species. Pacific
lamprey have co-adapted with their prey, which
can include salmon as well as other marine fish
species. Of the four lamprey species being
petitioned by conservationists, only the Pacific
and river lampreys ever produce adults which
prey on other fish during these lampreys'
shorter marine life stages," Wood said.
Pacific and river lamprey are primarily
concentrated in medium and large sized, slower
flowing Pacific streams. Western brook lampreys,
from the Sacramento River basin northward into
British Columbia, prefer the small tributaries.
These fish spend most (or all) of their life in
a broad distribution of Pacific coast rivers and
streams, except for Kern brook lamprey which are
limited to a small portion of the San Joaquin
River Basin of California. Lamprey are an
important component of the food web--in one
study, making up 11% of Columbia River harbor
seals' diets.
The twelve organizations which have given
notice of intent to sue are: Umpqua Watersheds,
Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental
Protection Information Center, Friends of the
Eel River, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center,
Native Fish Society, Northcoast Environmental
Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council,
Siskiyou Regional Education Project,
Steamboaters, Umpqua Valley Audubon Society, and
Washington Trout.
For a copy of the complaint,
click here (pdf, 84Kb).
