Feds relent and will consider Arctic grayling for ESA listing

By Michael Doyle | 02/03/2025 01:52 PM EST

The fish were once found throughout the upper Missouri River system.

An Arctic grayling captured in a Fish and Wildlife Service fish trap at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge near Lima, Montana.

An Arctic grayling captured in a Fish and Wildlife Service fish trap at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge near Lima, Montana. Jim Mogen/Fish and Wildlife Service via AP

The Arctic grayling may have wiggled free from the legal hook that’s complicated its potential coverage by the Endangered Species Act.

After considerable litigation, the Fish and Wildlife Service last Thursday dismissed its appeal of a trial judge’s August 2024 decision that gave the federal agency 12 months to complete its ESA assessment of the fish.

The dropped appeal, while essentially a routine matter, means the federal agency must again consider whether the Arctic grayling warrants federal protections. Several conservation organizations and a scientist argued in a 2023 lawsuit that the upper Missouri River basin population of the fish should be listed under the ESA.

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“We’re confident the science shows the Upper Missouri River grayling are endangered and need protection,” Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said Monday.

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