Oregon Public Broadcasting

Federal fish biologists released an opinion Friday, finding that proposed actions in the Klamath basin would likely speed the demise of threatened fish there.

Coho salmon depend on water flows in the Klamath system to migrate – but farmers depend on the water, as well.

The new Biological Opinion found that federal plans to balance water needs are “likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of the salmon.

Steve Pedery, with Oregon Wild, says the Biological Opinion doesn’t answer another key question, though.

Steve Pedery: “It doesn’t give them direction on what they should do differently. Kind of a mainstay of any endangered species’ biological opinion is not only saying what the threat to a species is, but also making recommendations on how to recover the species. And what this document lacks are those recovery recommendations.”

Pedery says he doesn’t know whether environmental groups will sue over the opinion, because it’s not clear how federal agencies and other groups in the area will respond.

OPB’s calls to NOAA Fisheries’ on this story were not returned.