U.S. Proposes Listing Fish as Threatened

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

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.

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

The timing is excellent, said Jim Edmondson of California Trout, one of the two environmental groups that fought to protect the fish, because four projects are underway that could have a marked 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 sucker was once common in the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers and smaller streams. But more than 75% of its habitat has been destroyed over the years by development, pollution and dams.