Could Oregon Coast Coho be Destined for an Historic ESA Delisting?
About two million coho salmon once stormed the rivers of the Oregon Coast. Industrial-strength fishing and leave-nothing-behind logging through the 1900s would be their downfall, underscored by dismal returns in the 1980s—with total numbers of spawning adults dropping below 15,000 fish. NOAA Fisheries listed the lingering coho as threatened in 1998. Last week the same…