According to NOAA’s Fisheries Service the herring in Lynn Canal, near Juneau, Alaska, should not be listed endangered under the Endangered Species Act as they are similar to other herring populations in the area that are being considered for listing. Doug Mecum, acting administrator for the Alaska region of NOAA’s Fisheries Service, told that there is no denying fact that the herring population has declined in Lynn Canal in comparison with the 1970s.
He continue saying the herring in Lynn Canal are not separate from other herring in southeast Alaska. There is a need to look at the entire southeast Alaska herring population. He told that the biologists have already started a status review of the entire southeast Alaska herring population from Cape Fairweather and Icy Cape in the north, southward to Dixon Entrance, and westward to the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska.
The Juneau chapter of the Sierra Club has filed a petition to NOAA’s Fisheries Service to enlist the Lynn Canal stock of Pacific herring as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. On the instance of NOAA’s Fisheries Service the Alaska Department of Fish and Game provided substantial information and advice such as data on the abundance of the herring population and the trends in population. And after the biological review of Pacific herring in Lynn Canal and the Fisheries Service found they are not eligible to be listed separately under the Endangered Species Act.
