Lawsuit Against National Marine Fisheries Service Filed to Protect Spring-Run Chinook Salmon

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service in February 2025, following years of delay by the Service to list spring-run Chinook Salmon in the Pacific Northwest as protected under the Endangered Species Act. Back in 2022, the Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity, and Umpqua Watersheds initially put forward spring-run Chinook in Oregon for listed protection; in 2023, this request was extended to springers in Washington as well, according to a press release by the Center for Biological Diversity. This current lawsuit also lists spring-run Chinook in California as also requiring protection.

As the Center notes, the NMFS is legally required to make a decision on such listings under the ESA within one year of filing. While the NMFS has agreed that these populations of springers “may be warranted” protections, the Service has so far taken no further action on the matter, despite the fact that more than 2 ½  years have passed since the initial filing. 

Not only is this delay illegal, but every lethargic move in this situation spells out trouble for spring-run Chinook across the Pacific Northwest. As filmmaker Shane Anderson and others lay out in the 2022 documentary “The Lost Salmon,” spring-run Chinook populations are struggling. Habitat loss, climate change, harmful dams, interbreeding with hatchery and fall-run fish populations, and unsustainable fishing practices are threatening a once-strong and abundant population as springers struggle to return to their homewaters to spawn. Once gone, these springer populations will not return, as they are genetically distinct from their fall-run Chinook counterparts. This delay in protections for spring-run Chinook is not just illegal– it is wasting precious time we have to save this species, as infrastructure, fishing, and policy projects move forward without considering potential negative impacts on springers. 

Interested in supporting this keystone native fish species that is vital to PNW river and coastal ecosystems and food webs? Native Fish Society’s campaign to Protect Oregon Coastal Springers lays out more information about the importance of this species, the actions we’ve taken to support them, and our goals of protecting these genetically distinct wild populations, particularly in the Umpqua and Siletz watersheds.

You can lend your support to spring-run Chinook by spreading the word about its struggle in the PNW, this lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Native Fish Society campaign. Volunteering your time or donating to the cause also allows us to continue to fight for springers across the PNW, and ensure that this culturally significant and legendary species returns to its prior wild abundance!