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Friday, August 6, 2004
Agency to review listing Cherry Point herring for protection
The federal agency in charge of protecting marine life agreed yesterday to review whether Cherry Point herring deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The fish, a crucial part of the food chain that supports salmon and killer whales, have suffered a steep population decline at Cherry Point, near two oil refineries and a smelter in the Bellingham area.
Their population has dropped 90 percent over the past three decades, according to the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, one of the environmental groups urging NOAA Fisheries to list the species for protection.
"This is a first step toward recovery of Cherry Point herring," said Dave Werntz, science director for the alliance.
"Federal fisheries biologists agree that Cherry Point herring may be headed toward extinction and deserve help."
Brian Gorman, a spokesman for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, said that in the past four years, the Cherry Point herring population has risen to its highest level since 1996.
Nevertheless, he noted that "fishery biologists say it is still at only about half the level needed to sustain a commercial fishery."
Accepting the petition does not guarantee listing under the federal law, but is the first step in a process, Gorman said.
NOAA Fisheries will convene a team of biologists and herring experts to decide whether the herring should be designated for protection under the federal law.
Cherry Point herring are a distinct population of Pacific herring that spawn along the open shoreline north of Bellingham, the environmental groups said.
Their spawning grounds have been sullied by industrial pollution from the refineries and smelter, dock construction, vessel traffic, and disease and foreign species introduced from ship ballast water, the groups said.
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