Lampreys to Remain off Endangered Species List, Federal Agency Determines
By Duane Huber, Roseburg News Review
December 24, 2004

Local efforts to help protect four species of lamprey reached a roadblock Wednesday when a federal agency announced that not enough information has been presented to warrant the eel-like fish’s listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Local groups Umpqua Watersheds, Steamboaters and Umpqua Valley Audubon Society are among 12 organizations in Oregon, Washington and California that filed a lawsuit in April against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for listing endangered species. They argued the agency failed to take steps to protect four species of lampreys, one of which is found in the North Umpqua River.

The groups will review the agency’s findings to determine whether to resubmit a new petition or challenge the findings in court.

“This agency, once again, failed to meet their responsibility to the American people,” said Penny Lind, executive director of Roseburg-based Umpqua Watersheds. “Even the agency’s own field and study work displays the four species of lamprey petitioned have, and continue to, lose numbers and habitat.”

Lampreys indicate a healthy stream with clean water, she said. Similar to salmon, Pacific and river lamprey are born in Northwest streams, migrate to the sea and return to streams to spawn. Young lampreys clean streams by filter feeding organic material and provide food sources for fish such as salmon. Adult lampreys provide food to predators of salmon.

Researchers noted low numbers in the 1990s on the Snake, Rogue and North Umpqua rivers. Counts taken at Winchester Dam by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife showed numbers had declined from 46,785 in 1966 to fewer than 50 annually since 1995.

The Fish and Wildlife Service opted to not list the species as endangered.

“We’re not going to pursue listing them under the Endangered Species Act, but we’re acknowledging that there’s not enough information on them,” said Phil Carroll, spokesman for the agency’s Portland office. He refutes conservationists’ claims that economics and tight budgets played a role in the determination.

“We are asking interested parties to continue to gather data and conduct research that will enhance the understanding of lampreys and the nature of their conservation needs,” said Dave Allen, director of the agency’s Pacific region, in a press release.

Conservationists list dams, agricultural and forest management practices, habitat loss and pollution among the key threats to populations of Pacific lamprey, as well as western brook lamprey, river lamprey and Kern brook lamprey — the four species in the lawsuit.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, petitioners showed documentation of the Pacific lamprey’s decline, but not specific details describing how the species is appropriate for listing. For the other three species, the petition suggested they faced threats similar to the Pacific lampreys, but failed to provide specific information on those threats.

The groups first approached the Fish and Wildlife Service in January 2003 with concerns about the species’ loss of habitat, and asked for an emergency listing. The Fish and Wildlife Service conducted an initial review, but didn’t grant the emergency listing. Due to lack of funding, the agency did no further work, prompting the conservation groups to sue.

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