A federal judge on Thursday finalized a settlement under which the Fish and Wildlife Service will finally decide whether a population of longfin smelt will get Endangered Species Act protections, like some other smelt that have long complicated California’s water politics.
Pressured by a missed-deadline lawsuit filed by an environmental advocacy group, the federal agency committed to making a final ESA listing decision by July 22 for the longfin smelt’s San Francisco Bay-Delta distinct population segment.
The Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2022 the longfin smelt population as endangered. Under the ESA, the agency then had one year to make a final determination whether to list the species or not. The Fish and Wildlife Service missed the deadline, prompting the environmental organization to file suit in December 2023.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Jon Rosenfield, science director for San Francisco Baykeeper, said in an interview Friday. “The federal government has delayed protection of an obviously endangered fish for a decade and half. We’ve had to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service every step along the way to get this protection.”