In a strongly-worded opinion, Federal Judge Janice M. Stewart ruled
on June 1 that the National Marine Fisheries Service must reconsider its
decision not to list the Oregon coastal coho salmon as threatened under
the Endangered Species Act.
Rather than list the coastal coho, NMFS in April, 1997 signed a Memorandum
of Agreement with Oregon to implement the Oregon Coastal Salmon Restoration
Initiative. This decision to rely on future and voluntary state conservation
measures to …