Minnow to be 1st fish taken off endangered list

Minnow to be 1st fish taken off endangered list
This Jan. 16, 2014 photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows an Oregon chub at the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge near Corvallis, Ore. The tiny fish found only in Oregon has become the first fish in the country removed from Endangered Species Act protection because it no longer faces extinction. It was put on the endangered species list 21 years ago. (AP Photo/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rick Swart)

A tiny minnow that lives only in Oregon is set to become the first fish ever taken off U.S. Endangered Species Act protection because it is no longer threatened with extinction.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing Tuesday that the Oregon chub has recovered, 21 years after it went on the endangered species list. The service's proposal goes through a 60-day public comment period before becoming final.

The fish had practically disappeared from Oregon's Willamette Valley as the swampy backwaters it inhabits were drained to create farms and cities over the past century and a-half.

Minnow to be 1st fish taken off endangered list
An Oregon State Fish biologist pulls a hand full of Oregon Chub from the waters of a pond near Dexter, Oregon as part of a research project in this April 2008 file photo. The tiny fish found only in Oregon has become the first fish in the country removed from Endangered Species Act protection because it no longer faces extinction. It was put on the endangered species list 21 years ago. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Chris Pietsch, File)

State biologist Brian Bangs says unlike Pacific salmon, the Oregon chub was relatively easy to save because it doesn't get in the way of huge economic forces, such as logging and hydroelectric power.

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: Minnow to be 1st fish taken off endangered list (2014, February 4) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2014-02-tiny-minnow-fish-endangered.html
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