Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal Chinook Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Units Under the Endangered Species Act

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Parts 223 and 224</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 251204-0176: RTID 0648-XR123]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal Chinook Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Units Under the Endangered Species Act</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of 12-month petition finding. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> We, NMFS, have completed a comprehensive status review of the Oregon Coast (OC) and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal (SONCC) Chinook salmon ( <E T="03">Oncorhynchus tshawytscha</E> ) Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) in response to a petition to list these species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to designate critical habitat concurrently with the listings. Based on the best scientific and commercial information available, including the status review report, and taking into account efforts being made to protect the species, we have determined that the OC and SONCC Chinook salmon ESUs do not warrant listing. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This finding was made available on December 9, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The petition, status review report, <E T="04">Federal Register</E> notices, and the list of references can be accessed electronically online at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/Chinook-salmon-protected#conservation-management.</E> The peer review report is available online at: <E T="03"> https://www.noaa.gov/ information-technology/biological-status-of-oregon-coast-and-southern-oregon-northern-california-coastal-Chinook-salmon. </E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Robert Markle, NMFS West Coast Region, at <E T="03">robert.markle@noaa.gov,</E> (971) 710-8155; or Heather Austin, NMFS Office of Protected Resources, at <E T="03">heather.austin@noaa.gov,</E> (301) 427-8422. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> On August 4, 2022, we received a petition from the Native Fish Society, Center for Biological Diversity, and Umpqua Watersheds to list the OC and SONCC Chinook salmon ESUs as threatened or endangered under the ESA or, alternatively, list only spring-run Chinook salmon in both the OC and SONCC ESUs as threatened or endangered under the ESA. On January 11, 2023, we published a 90-day finding (88 FR 1548) announcing that the petition presented substantial scientific and commercial information indicating the petitioned actions to list the OC and SONCC Chinook salmon ESUs may be warranted. With respect to the request to list only the spring-run components of those ESUs, we found that the petition did not present substantial scientific and commercial information indicating that the petitioned action was warranted. We also initiated a status review of the species, as required by section 4(b)(3)(A) of the ESA, and requested information to inform the agency's decision on whether the species warrant listing as threatened or endangered under the ESA. We received information from the public in response to the 90-day finding and incorporated that information into both the status review report and this 12-month finding. This information complemented our thorough review of the best available scientific and commercial data for these species (see <E T="03">Status Review</E> below). <HD SOURCE="HD2">Listing Determinations Under the ESA</HD> We are responsible for determining whether a species meets the definition of threatened or endangered under the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ). To make this determination, we first consider whether a group of organisms constitutes a species under section 3 of the ESA, then whether the status of the species qualifies it for listing as either threatened or endangered. Section 3 of the ESA defines “species” to include “any subspecies of fish or wildlife or plants, and any distinct population segment of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds when mature” (16 U.S.C. 1532(16)). In 1991, we issued the Policy on Applying the Definition of Species Under the Endangered Species Act to Pacific Salmon (ESU Policy; 56 FR 58612, November 20, 1991). Under the ESU Policy, a Pacific salmon population is a distinct population segment (DPS), and hence a species under the ESA, if it represents an ESU of the biological species. The ESU Policy identifies two criteria for making ESU determinations: (1) it must be substantially reproductively isolated from other conspecific population units and (2) it must represent an important component in the evolutionary legacy of the species. The first criterion, reproductive isolation, need not be absolute, but must be strong enough to permit evolutionarily important differences to accrue in different population units. A population would meet the second criterion if it contributes substantially to the ecological and genetic diversity of the species as a whole. We use the ESU Policy exclusively for delineating distinct population segments of Pacific salmon. A joint NMFS—U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) (jointly, the Services) policy clarifies the Services' interpretation of the phrase “distinct population segment” for the purposes of listing, delisting, and reclassifying a species under the ESA (DPS Policy; 61 FR 4722, February 7, 1996). In announcing this policy, the Services indicated that the ESU Policy was consistent with the DPS Policy and that NMFS would continue to use the ESU Policy for Pacific salmon. Section 3 of the ESA further defines an endangered species as “any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range” and a threatened species as one “which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range” (16 U.S.C. 1532(6), (20)). Thus, we interpret an “endangered species” to be one that is presently in danger of extinction. A “threatened species,” on the other hand, is not presently in danger of extinction, but is likely to become so in the foreseeable future. When we consider whether a species qualifies as threatened under the ESA, we must consider the meaning of the term “foreseeable future.” 50 CFR 424.11(d) provides: “In determining whether a species is a threatened species, the Services must analyze whether the species is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future. The foreseeable future extends as far into the future as the Services can make reasonably reliable predictions about the threats to the species and the species' responses to those threats. The Services will describe the foreseeable future on a case-by-case basis, using the best available data and taking into account considerations such as the species' life-history characteristics, threat-projection timeframes, and environmental variability. The Services need not identify the foreseeable future in terms of a specific period of time.” Section 4(a)(1) of the ESA requires us to determine whether any species is endangered or threatened as a result of any one or a combination of the following factors: (A) the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; (B) overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; (C) disease or predation; (D) the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or (E) other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence (16 U.S.C. 1533(a)(1)). Section 4(b)(1)(A) of the ESA requires us to make listing determinations solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available after conducting a review of the status of the species and after taking into account efforts, if any, being made by any state or foreign nation or political subdivision thereof to protect the species. In evaluating the efficacy of existing domestic conservation efforts, we rely on the Services' joint Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts When Making Listing Decisions (PECE; 68 FR 15100, March 28, 2003) for any conservation efforts that have yet to be implemented or demonstrate effectiveness. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Life History of Chinook Salmon</HD> The largest of the Pacific salmon, Chinook salmon ( <E T="03">Oncorhynchus tshawytscha</E> ) are in the Salmonidae subfamily, which consists of six genera of trout and salmon (Nelson <E T="03">et al.</E> 2016). Chinook salmon are anadromous and semelparous ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> individuals die after spawning). Their life history involves incubation, hatching, and emergence in freshwater, migration to the ocean, and subsequent return to freshwater for completion of maturation and spawning. Within this general life history strategy, however, Chinook salmon display considerable variation with respect to age at outmigration from freshwater, ocean distribution and migratory patterns, length of residence in the ocean, and time of year in which they return to freshwater and spawn. Juvenile rearing in freshwater can be minimal or extended; the majority (~95 percent) of Chinook salmon in the OC and SONCC ESUs typically migrate to the ocean in their first year of life (ODFW 2007a, ODFW 2013, ODFW 2014a). This is sometimes referred to as an ocean-type life history as opposed to fish that overwinter and migrate to the ocean as yearlings (stream-type life history). Duration of ocean residence is highly variable. Some Chinook salmon rear in the ocean for less than 1 year, return ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 138k characters. 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