Endangered and Threatened Species; Petition to Delist Coho Salmon in Siskiyou County, California

Background

Section 4(b)(3)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C et seq.), requires that NMFS make a finding on whether a petition to list, delist, or reclassify a species presents substantial scientific or commercial information to demonstrate that the petitioned action may be warranted. NMFS' standard for substantial information is stated at 50 CFR 424.14(b) as ``that amount of information that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the measure proposed in the petition may be warranted.'' This finding is to be based on all information available to NMFS at the time. To the maximum extent practicable, this finding is to be made within 90 days of the receipt of the petition, and the finding is to be published promptly in the Federal Register. If the finding is positive, NMFS is also required to promptly commence a review of the status of the involved species.

NMFS has made a 90-day finding on a petition to delist coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in Siskiyou County, California. The petition, dated January 4, 1999, was submitted by Mr. Richard A. Gierak, Director of New Frontiers Institute, Inc., and was received by NMFS on January 20, 1999. The petitioner requested that NMFS delist coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in Siskiyou County, California. This population is included in the Southern Oregon/Northern California coho salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU); the ESU was listed as a threatened species on May 6, 1997 (62 FR 24588).

The petitioner submitted information from various documents from 1985 through 1998, including NMFS publications, reports, and Federal Register documents of salmon listings, and from personal communications on the primary causative factors in the decline of coho salmon in northern California rivers. The petitioner identifies two categories of major factors contributing to the decline of northern California coho: nature (i.e., floods, fire, drought, El Nino), and human activities (i.e., the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the overpopulation of salmonid predators, the removal of salmonid eggs for hatchery production, ocean fishing, and the destruction of estuarine habitats along the coast).

Under section 4(a)(1) of the ESA and the listing regulations at 50 CFR 424.11(c), when a species is considered for listing, NMFS must determine whether the species is endangered or threatened due to any one or a combination of the following factors: (1) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; (2) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; (3) disease or predation; (4) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanism; or (5) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence.

Under 50 CFR 424.11(d), the factors considered in delisting a species are the same as those used to list a species. A species may be delisted only if the best scientific and commercial data indicates that the species is no longer threatened or endangered for the following reasons: (1) Extinction; (2) recovery (the point at which the purposes of the ESA are no longer required); or (3) subsequent investigation reveals that the original data or the interpretation of that data used to list the species was in error.

In its listing determination for coho salmon in the Southern Oregon/Northern California ESU (62 FR 24588, May 6, 1997), NMFS concluded that the current status of the population is the result of a wide range of long-standing, human-induced factors (i.e. habitat degradation, harvest, and artificial propagation) that serve to exacerbate the effects of environmental conditions that adversely impact coho salmon such as drought, poor ocean conditions, and flooding. The specific factors for decline of coho salmon that were identified in the petition (i.e. natural environmental change due to floods, fire, drought and El Nino, and human-induced activities associated with the management of marine mammal populations, fishing, and hatchery practices) were previously considered by NMFS in its listing determination and found to have contributed to the species decline. Information demonstrating that listed salmon have recovered or that the threats to salmon no longer exist were not presented in the petition.

NMFS has reviewed the petition, the literature cited in the petition, and other available literature and information. NMFS finds that the petitioned action does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that delisting coho salmon in Siskiyou County, California, or the Southern Oregon/Northern California coho salmon ESU in which these populations are included, may be warranted.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

Dated: March 29, 1999. Andrew A. Rosenberg, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 99-8181 Filed 4-2-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-22-F