U.S. Orders New Look at Data on Peril to Delta Smelt : Wildlife: A Sierra Club lawyer says protection of the fish as endangered has already been recommended. He charges that ‘power politics’ is blocking a decision.

In a move that underscores the high stakes involved, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington has directed its West Coast biologists to reanalyze their recommendation on whether to give the tiny delta smelt Endangered Species Act protection.

A lawyer for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund said he “can say with certainty” that federal biologists both in Sacramento and at the agency’s western headquarters in Portland recommended in June that the delta smelt be protected as an endangered species.

“Clearly, we’re watching power politics unfold in a way that is contrary to public welfare,” lawyer Stephan Volker of the environmentalist group said. He accused officials responsible for shipping water to farms and cities in California of influencing the decision.

Water industry officials oppose Endangered Species Act protection for the delta smelt, contending that such a declaration would force sharp reductions in the amount of fresh water that could be sucked from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where the fish lives.

The highly charged decision on whether to protect the species of smelt is already six weeks past due. Environmentalists worry that as additional water is exported from the delta this summer, more delta smelt will perish, and the fish--whose numbers dropped by 90% over the last decade--could verge on extinction.

Cynthia Barry, a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman in Portland, would not say what the initial recommendation to Washington was. But she said regional biologists were ordered late last week to “take another look” at the data, and to reanalyze “the trends” to determine whether the population is on the rise or is dropping. Federal biologists have been analyzing the smelt for more than a year.

Barry said the re-evaluation could result in one of two recommendations: that the smelt needs Endangered Species Act protection, or that it does not face extinction and therefore does not warrant immediate protection but does merit more study.

Asked whether the order for a review means Washington officials disagreed with biologists’ findings, Barry said:

“I don’t think the word ‘disagree’ is appropriate. I think that word is ‘unable to support the recommendation as it stands.’

“The difference is that they don’t necessarily disagree,” she continued. “They’re asking for a recommendation that can be supported.”

Opponents contend that the delta smelt population fluctuates naturally and may be rebounding. To support their position, they cite a survey by the California Department of Water Resources that showed an increase in the population in 1990.

But all experts agree that the population is far lower than the 2 million that existed a decade ago. The population crashed to 200,000 in the late 1980s, prompting fishery biologists and environmentalists to seek Endangered Species Act protection for the smelt.

Environmentalists believe that the decline mirrors the general ill health of the delta and San Francisco Bay, and they lay the blame primarily on increased fresh water exports from the delta during the 1980s.

Don C. Erman, who sought protection for the smelt on behalf of the state chapter of the American Fisheries Society, said the reanalysis “raises a lot of concerns about political pressure.”

“It doesn’t solve the problem to delay it,” said Erman, a fisheries biologist at UC Berkeley. “There’s enough evidence that the species is troubled. If they just accept it and go out to solve it, there would be a lot less grief.”

If the fish is declared threatened or endangered, the law requires the government to protect it.

Volker said participants in the decision told him the Sacramento office had recommended an endangered listing and “the regional headquarters advised us that they concurred in that decision.”

He would not reveal his sources of information, but said the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund is considering suing to force the federal government into making a decision. If such a suit is filed, he said, he will submit sworn statements from officials who were aware of the initial recommendation.

Officials in Washington have asked for further review in other instances, most notably in 1987, after the western regional office of fish and wildlife recommended that the northern spotted owl be listed as a threatened species.

When Washington officials rejected that recommendation and asked for further study, a suit was brought by environmentalists that helped force a declaration in 1989 that the owl was indeed threatened.

BACKGROUND

The delta smelt, a three-inch-long fish that smells rather like a cucumber and is found in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, became the focus of scrutiny in recent years after its population of about 2 million a decade ago dropped to an estimated 200,000. Environmental groups and many biologists argue that under the Endangered Species Act the government must step in to protect the light blue fish because it is being sucked up by water pumps, and its habitat is being reduced by increased demands on elta water. Protecting the fish may force cuts in the amount of water that can be tapped from the Sacramento River Delta for delivery to California farms and cities. Biologists and environmentalists say the fate of the smelt is linked to the ultimate survivability of the delta’s ecosystems and landscapes.