Move Puts Fish Species Closer to Protected Status

After a five-year fight, environmentalists said Friday they have persuaded the federal government to recognize the plight of the Santa Ana sucker, a disappearing fish species once common across the Los Angeles Basin.

The federal government has proposed listing the fish as threatened under the Endangered Species Act--the first step toward federal protection, said Claudia Polsky, an attorney with the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in San Francisco, which sued on behalf of two conservation groups.

“It’s not a definite decision, but the fish have been taken out of the waiting room and put into the emergency room,” Polsky said.

“One of the things that’s surprising and distressing is that it was a species that was perceived to be fairly resilient. When it is in imminent danger of extinction, you know the river system has been badly mismanaged,” Polsky said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will publish its final decision by Jan. 15, 2000, after a year of public comment.

“This is a day for celebration,” said Jim Edmondson with California Trout, one of the two environmental groups that fought to protect the fish. “Essentially, the battle

is over. Now let’s get started with recovery.”

California Trout and the California-Nevada chapter of the American Fisheries Society have been lobbying since 1994 to win endangered-species status for the fish. The Santa Ana sucker is a small bottom-feeder with a little mouth and large lips that it uses to vacuum algae and invertebrates from stream beds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged in 1997 that the fish deserves protection but concluded that more than 100 other West Coast plants and animals were even more threatened and had priority. The two conservation groups then filed a lawsuit through Earthjustice to force the federal agency to act.

The timing of this week’s decision is excellent, Edmondson said, because there are four projects underway that could have a big effect on the fish’s habitat. Three hydroelectric plants in the San Bernardino mountains and one plant in the San Gabriel area are up for relicensing, he said.

“That we have a proposed rule means that they will have to take the sucker fish and its needs into consideration,” he said.

The fish species’ decline has paralleled the region’s enormous development over the past three decades. The sucker was once common in the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers and smaller streams. .

Now, small populations of the fish survive in the headwaters of San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest, in Big Tujunga Creek and in portions of the Santa Ana River from Riverside downstream to Yorba Linda. A tiny population also has been found in the Santa Clara River.

“If they hadn’t ruled now, we’d be left with perhaps less than three isolated populations that are teetering on the brink of extinction,” Edmondson said.

The plight of the Santa Ana sucker illustrates Southern California’s disappearing habitat, said biologist Camm Swift, past president of the regional chapter of the American Fisheries Society.

“This is the last Southern California native freshwater fish species that is not extinct or already listed. They’re hanging on by their fins,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Santa Ana Sucker, Catostomus santannae

* Description: Small to medium in size, with large, thick lips and small mouth used to vacuum algae and invertebrates from riverbeds and streams.

* Lifespan: Two to three years.

* Preferred habitat: Clear, cool, rocky pools and creeks; small to medium rivers.

* Historic range: Once common in Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana River drainages and in small, shallow freshwater streams.

* Current range: Headwaters of San Gabriel River system, Big Tujunga Creek in the Los Angeles River Basin, portions of the Santa Ana River, and parts of the Santa Clara River system in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

* Decline caused by: Water diversions, dams, extreme alterations of stream channels, erosion, debris, torrents, pollution, heavy recreational use of waterways. Also, nonnative species that prey on suckers and compete for habitat.

Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service