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The Center for Biological Diversity filed suit on Wednesday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), arguing that the federal agency has delayed its decision on legal protection for the Virgin River spinedace for more than three years.

The FWS announced last September that it planned to review the status of the Virgin River spinedace, a medium-size silver or gold minnow found only in the Virgin River and its tributaries, and consider it for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The agency determined that a full 12-month study of the species was necessary after reviewing evidence provided by the Center for Biological Diversity that suggests the fish is threatened by habitat loss and non-native predators.

But the Center for Biological Diversity submitted that information to the FWS in 2012, said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney for the center.

Private citizens are permitted to propose species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The FWS is supposed to review petitions within 90 days, Sanerib said. If, after reviewing the petition, the FWS determines an application merits further study, the agency is expected to schedule a more in-depth 12-month review to determine whether the species' inclusion in the Endangered Species Act is warranted.

"Our concern is that it took the Fish and Wildlife Service three years to do a 90-day finding," Sanerib said, so the Center for Biological Diversity opted to sue to try to force the federal agency to set a deadline for the longer study.

"Our goal is to make sure the agency doesn't drag their heels and that they review this in a timely manner," Sanerib said.

Paul Abate, aquatic and plant section supervisor for the Utah Field Office of the FWS, said the agency has not yet set a schedule for studying the Virgin River spinedace.

"This is a review that is definitely on our radar screen but that has not been scheduled on our work plan," he said. "The reason is that we already have a number of species that we are scheduled to work on in the near future. ... And an important thing to keep in mind with the spinedace is the status of the species right now. ... There are questions about its future, but right now the species is secure in its habitat."

This is not the first time the Virgin River spindace has come up for review under the Endangered Species Act. A proposal to list the species was withdrawn in 1996 after the development of the Virgin River Spinedace Conservation Agreement, which promised to protect the fish without a listing being necessary.

The Center for Biological Diversity does not believe the agreement has been successful.

"What's being done under that is essentially allowing the species to just eke by," Sanerib said. "For us, the goal is recovery. It's not just enabling the fish to hang on by its fingertips, but really getting all the tools that we can to ensure the species survives and recovers."