How the ESA Works What authority does it give and to whom?
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a law of the United States. It is administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The act is designed to save species and their habitats when other efforts have failed. NMFS is accountable for animals that spend most of their lives in marine waters, including marine fish, most marine mammals, and anadromous fish such as Pacific salmon.
How does a species gain ESA protection?
Step One: The ESA is triggered when a species’ survival is in doubt and other laws and initiatives have not provided enough protection. First, the species’ history and present condition must be examined. This “status review,” and its scientific findings, must be completed within one year. The process ends here if NMFS concludes that the species is not threatened or endangered. If the status review shows that a species’ survival is imperiled, the fisheries service must publish a proposal to protect the species.
Step Two: At this point, the NMFS proposal undergoes further scientific evaluation and public comment. NMFS then makes a prognosis for the species’ survival. Federal agencies are obligated, at this stage, to work with NMFS to protect the species (and its habitat) from actions that may appreciably reduce its survival and recovery. No regulations apply to state and local authorities or private citizens at this time.
Step Three: If additional protection is deemed necessary, the species is added to the ESA’s list of threatened and endangered species. Note: A final listing decision may be delayed for up to six months if substantial disagreement exists about the scientific information on a species’ status.
Adequate time is allowed for the public to become informed of a listing before any protections or regulations become law. After this time, any unauthorized “take” of the species may be prohibited.

Fisheries Service decision not to appeal coho de-listing will bring together federal and regional recovery efforts.

The chairman of the Northwest Power Planning Council reacted favorably today to an announcement by the National Marine Fisheries Service that it will increase its support for local efforts to develop salmon and steelhead recovery activities in the Columbia River Basin including the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

“Our fish and wildlife program is based on locally developed plans for the tributary watersheds, or subbasins, of the Columbia/Snake system, and I think I speak for the entire Council when I say I am excited by the prospects of working with the Fisheries Service to address the needs of all fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin, including threatened and endangered species,” Council Chairman Larry Cassidy of Vancouver, Washington, said. “Local input, and avoiding duplication, is the key to salmon and steelhead recovery.”

Today in Seattle, D. Robert Lohn, regional director of the Fisheries Service, announced the agency would not appeal a recent federal court ruling that stripped threatened species status from Oregon coast coho salmon, which the Fisheries Service had defined to include both hatchery-bred and naturally spawning fish. Instead, Lohn said the Fisheries Service would continue existing protections for the more than 20 other Endangered Species Act-listed populations in the region that include hatchery-bred salmon while initiating a public review of its salmon hatchery policies. He said the agency also would increase its support for locally developed plans that are consistent with regional and federal goals, including the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

“Mr. Lohn said he intends to work with the Council in a collaborative process at the subbasin level to develop scientifically credible recovery actions that could be adopted in his agency’s plans and ours, and we are ready and eager to work with him,” Cassidy said. “By working closely together, I am optimistic we will benefit the fish and reduce or eliminate duplication of efforts and expense."