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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that it has begun the process of considering the Virgin River spinedace for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The Virgin River spinedace is a medium-size silver or gold minnow that is found only in the Virgin River and its tributaries. The FWS plans to launch a yearlong investigation into the spinedace's health as a species in light of a 2012 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, which claimed the fish is threatened by habitat loss and non-native predators.
Noah Greenwald, endangered-species program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the spinedace has disappeared from more than half of its historic habitat.
"Fish need water," Greenwald said. "The fact that Washington County takes so much water out of the river really harms the spinedace."
After a 90-day review of the Center for Biological Diversity's evidence, the FWS determined that the spinedace deserved deeper investigation, said Paul Abate, aquatics and plant section supervisor for the Utah field office of the FWS. The Virgin River system, which is home to several unique aquatic species, is threatened by water loss and by the intrusion of non-native predators, he said, but there are areas where the spinedace is thriving.
The FWS will collect scientific and commercial information about the spinedace from the public for 30 days, and will then schedule a 12-month study of the species. After that study, the FWS will determine whether listing the spinedace is warranted.
The spinedace has been considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act before, but the proposal to list the fish was withdrawn in 1996 after the development of the Virgin River Spinedace Conservation Agreement. That agreement hasn't lived up to expectations, Greenwald said.
For example, he said, the agreement set a goal of restoring the spinedace to 80 percent of its historic range, and planned to check for progress during a 2010 survey. That survey showed that the spinedace occupied just 52 percent of its historic habitat, Greenwald said.
In order for the fish to survive, Greenwald said, water regulators need to set minimums for water flows in the Virgin River system. Minimums have been set in the past, he said, but haven't been enforced — an additional protection the Center for Biological Diversity hopes would come with inclusion in the Endangered Species Act.
"There needs to be a commitment to maintain water in the rivers for the fish, for a whole bunch of different species, and for the rivers themselves," Greenwald said.
If listed, the spinedace would join two other endangered Virgin River species — the Virgin River chub, and the woundfin.
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Call for public comment
Comments will be accepted at http://www.regulations.gov until Nov. 17. Those who wish to send information about the spinedace to the FWS should enter docket number FWS-R6-ES-2015-0121 in the website's search box and click the "comment now" button. Comments may also be mailed to:
Attn: Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2015-0121
U.S. Fish and Wildlife, MS: BPHC
5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Va. 22041-3803
Submissions are expected to include supporting documentation.