Defying the Endangered Species Act at the State Level is Bad Science, Bad Politics...

“State ESA laws are not intended to challenge federal listings, but allow for state-only listings, and up-listing (Threatened to Endangered,) when the situation at the state level is worse than it is at the national level. Failing to list a federally-listed species at the state level flies in the face of the intent of both federal and state law. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”

NFC Executive Director Bob Mallard chimes in on the Bangor Daily News blog regarding the state of Maine’s ingoing refusal to list federally, and critically, endangered salmon as Endangered at the state level.

An indefensible act of blatant obstructionism, it’s time the state accepted the fact that Atlantic salmon are endangered, they exist only in Maine within the United States, efforts to restore them are not going away, and they need to do everything possible to save the species, including putting science before turf.

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In Maine, “endangered” means what Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Department of Marine Resources feels like listing, not what science says is endangered.