Coho Critical Habitat
Coho v. National Marine Fisheries Service



We won.

On January 13, 1999, EPIC challenged the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on their failure to designate critical habitat for Coho salmon. Pursuant to federal statute, the agency was required to designate critical habitat within a specified time of listing Coho under the Endangered Species Act. NMFS issued a proposed critical habitat rule in November 1997 but never followed through with a final rule until we challenged this failure in court. As a result of our litigation, NMFS agreed to comply with its statutory responsibilities and issued a final determination of critical habitat.