DENVER – The humpback whale, a rare fish found only in the Colorado River basin, has been brought back from the brink of extinction after decades of protection, although work must continue to ensure its survival, federal agencies said Monday in reclassifying the species from endangered in the threatened status.
The fish, which got its name from a fleshy bump behind its head, was first classified as endangered in 1967, and its habitat was severely affected by the construction of the dam. Its numbers also declined with the introduction of predatory, non-native water species.
His change of status will formally take effect November 17, under a rule posted on Monday in the Federal Register by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Environmentalists reject the delisting of the endangered status. They argue that the humpback whale’s future remains in jeopardy as a mega-drought, largely due to climate change, is reducing rivers in the Colorado River basin, which includes seven southwestern US states and Mexico.
The removal comes two months after the US Bureau of Reclamation declared an unprecedented water shortage on the river. It also follows a July proposal by Fish and Wildlife to move another rare Colorado River fish, the razorback sucker, from an endangered state to an endangered state.
Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program Director at WildEarth Guardians, said in a statement it was “confusing that the (US Department of the Interior) would go to such lengths to protect these endangered fish at a time when there is so much uncertainty to reclassify in terms of climate change and the ability to continue to fund the series of heroic actions it takes annually for the survival of these species. “
Both the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation are part of the Home Office.
The government considers a species “Endangered” if it is threatened with extinction in all or much of its historical habitat. Protective measures are maintained for “threatened” species, and this status means that biologists can take steps to improve the overall population even if some of the fish may be injured.
Fish and Wildlife said it finalized another rule to ensure that working with other parties – including private, state, tribal and federal agencies – continues to maintain its existing habitat and the threat of predators and drought-induced water currents, among others Conservation efforts, decreased.
The largest population of the humpback whale is in the Grand Canyon with more than 12,000 adult fish. Four smaller wild populations reside upstream of Lake Powell in Utah and in Colorado canyons. The species thrives in rocky waters with fast currents, but needs warm and muddy water to spawn.
The fish once had a wider range, but the construction of the Flaming Gorge Dam in Wyoming and the Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona border led to the extinction of two more populations of the species.
An eighth population in the Dinosaur National Monument is also believed to have disappeared.
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