Smelt may join the roster of local fish listed under the Endangered Species Act

On Thursday, the federal National Marine Fisheries Service proposed listing Pacific smelt as threatened under the ESA.

A final decision could take more than a year, after which biologists would come up with a plan to help smelt recover.

Historically, smelt returned to the Cowlitz by the millions every winter between December and March. Kelso called itself “The Smelt Capital of the World” and stalwart eaters competed in an annual smelt-scarfing contest.

But smelt runs started to falter in the 1980s, and the last decent run in the Cowlitz was in 2003.

The Cowlitz Tribe petitioned to have smelt ESA-listed in November of 2007.

The tribe cited sharp drops in smelt runs along the Pacific Coast and possible local extinction in Oregon and California.

“No other organization seemed to be concerned that eulachon runs have nearly vanished, but the species is important to the cultural identity of our tribe,” Cowlitz Chairman William Iyall said in a news release Thursday. “We could not stand idly by and let this part of our heritage fade away,” Iyall added.

The tribe cites the cultural as well as biological significance of smelt; Indian bands from around the region used to come to the Cowlitz to fish. After salmon, smelt were the next most important fish resource for generations of Indians living along the lower Columbia, the tribe said.

The proposed listing covers smelt from the Mad River in Northern California north into British Columbia.

In a news release, NMFS said smelt are declining through this range, and further declines are expected as climate change affects the timing of spring flows in Northwest rivers. The agency also found that smelt are particularly vulnerable to being caught in shrimp fisheries off the U.S. and Canada.

NMFS will accept public comment on its proposal to list the smelt for 60 days. The agency has another year to finalize the listing, decide to withdraw it or extend the deadline for another six months. If the agency does decide to list smelt as threatened, biologists would have to come up with a recovery plan.

Such a plan would likely involve improvements to habitat and changes in fishery management, as has been done for listed salmon and steelhead.

The Cowlitz Tribe previously cited dams on the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers as a factor in smelt decline, because they alter the flow of water over spawning grounds.

Some people have argued that operation of the sediment retention structure in the Toutle River valley increases the flow of silt over smelt spawning beds in Cowlitz.

NMFS listed predation by seals and sea lions as threats to smelt, too.

The proposed listing won’t change smelt-dipping rules for this season, though the best dipping appears to be over in any case.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is allowing sport smelt dipping only one day a week on the Cowlitz, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, through the end of March. Dipping was fair two weekends ago and some people got their 10-pound limits last Saturday, but smelt numbers appear to have declined in the river since then.

A WDFW test dipper didn’t get any smelt at midday Wednesday, though people might do better earlier or later in the day, said Brad James, a state biologist. No seals or sea lions were spotted in the Cowlitz Wednesday.

With the 13 stocks of salmon or steelhead in the lower Columbia River are listed under the ESA, some fishing is allowed. But unlike smelt, hatchery-raised salmon and steelhead that can be kept can be differentiated from wild fish by a clipped fin.