BOSTON – A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a decision that allowed the federal government to defend its designation of Atlantic salmon in Maine as endangered.

The ruling was a setback for some environmental groups who argued that two federal agencies couldn’t adequately defend the decision because they had recently opposed the conservation groups in other litigation.

Last November, the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated Atlantic salmon in seven Maine rivers endangered. The state and business groups challenged that ruling, and conservation groups argued that the federal government should not be the party to defend it.

On Friday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s ruling that the two federal services were adequately representing the groups’ interests. It did say that the trial court could reconsider if it determined the services no longer represented those interests.