Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will seek to have wild Atlantic salmon protected as endangered, after the release last week of a government report that found that the fish is near extinction. Despite a two-year effort by Maine to save salmon without federal intervention, the wild species continues to face threats from aquaculture, erosion, pollution, fishing, and disease. Maine Gov. Angus King (I) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) warned that an endangered listing could cripple the state’s economy. In other contentious fish news, four conservation groups this week notified the feds of their intent to sue to force listing under the Endangered Species Act of bull trout along the Pacific Coast and in Washington state’s Puget Sound. And two green groups filed suit against the feds to stop excessive harvesting of depleted Pacific groundfish.
