State drops challenge to listing salmon as endangered species

State officials Thursday dropped their challenge to the federal government’s decision to list wild Atlantic salmon as an endangered species in eight Maine rivers.

The state’s acceptance of the salmon’s listing under the Endangered Species Act was cemented when the Maine Attorney General’s Office withdrew its appeal of a recent federal court ruling supporting the listing.

“I don’t think any of us wanted this hanging over our heads anymore,” Gov. John Baldacci said of the abrupt end to what has proved to be an uphill legal battle to reverse a November 2000 decision to protect the salmon under the act.

Baldacci’s willingness to accept the listing was in stark contrast to the previous administration’s vehement opposition, charging the act’s restrictions would harm the state’s blueberry and aquaculture industries.

But Baldacci said an agreement reached Thursday between the state and the federal government addressed the concerns of both industry and those focused on restoring the salmon.

“We’re all going to have to make changes and sacrifices … but this sends a strong message that we can take care of the economy and the environment together,” he said.

The agreement between the state and the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior includes the following provisions:

. The state will play an active role in reviewing and implementing the salmon restoration plan spawned by the endangered listing.

. Any effort to include additional rivers, most notably the Penobscot and Kennebec, in the listing must be subject to public participation.

. Parties at odds over the provisions of the act will work to forgo filing lawsuits in favor of mediation in state court.

The listing protects the species in the eight Maine rivers, five of which are in Washington County. The eight rivers are the Dennys, East Machias, Machias, Narraguagus, Pleasant, Ducktrap, Sheepscot and Cove Brook, a tributary of the Penobscot River.

The state’s decision to drop its appeal was not unexpected, with many considering the fight all but over with an 87-page decision in April by U.S. District Court Judge Gene Carter. Carter ruled that the scientific and legal arguments for listing the salmon as endangered were sound.

In their opposition, state officials contended that because of decades of stocking foreign fish in Maine rivers, the state’s Atlantic salmon were not members of a unique species, and therefore not deserving of endangered status.

That argument, first and most forcefully advanced by former Gov. Angus King’s administration, was not well-received in many scientific circles, including a panel of the nation’s most prominent researchers.

Before Carter’s ruling, the National Academy of Sciences also found that the fish were genetically distinct from their Canadian relatives, a conclusion similar to those drawn earlier by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Officials from the state’s blueberry and aquaculture industries long have feared that the salmon’s endangered status would strangle their businesses, especially those in already struggling Washington County, by imposing too many restrictions.

While the state may have dropped its appeal, one legal challenge remains.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, a coalition of Maine industries opposed to the listing had not withdrawn its appeal of Carter’s ruling, according to U.S. District Court records.

Industry representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Supporters of the endangered listing hailed the state’s decision as a “fresh start” in salmon protection, and a stark contrast to the polarizing debate fueled by unyielding opposition from the previous administration.

“I think the Baldacci administration is turning a new page,” said Andy Goode, the vice president of U.S. programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation. “I hope this decision is symbolic of how the state is going to play an active role in salmon recovery.”