A million strong and bull trout are endangered, seriously?
Roger Phillips, Idaho Statesman, September 09, 2010 [here]
I’M CALLING BULL
… Idaho’s bull trout are more plentiful than people realize, and it’s debatable whether they should even be listed under the Endangered Species Act. …
According to a population estimate published by Idaho Fish and Game biologists in 2008 in the American Fisheries Society journal, “within 262 local populations designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within seven Idaho recovery units, the number of 70-millimeter total length and larger bull trout was estimated at 1.13 million.” …
[I]t’s been 12 years since bull trout were listed under the Endangered Species Act, and there’s still no final federal recovery plan, so there’s no chance of delisting them.
Under a best-case scenario, it will probably be at least two or three years before the feds could even start the delisting process and remove bull trout from ESA protection.
The irony here is that it’s going to take longer to get a recovery plan for bull trout than it was for Idaho to recover them, whether or not they were actually “threatened” in the first place.