Environmental Group Files Suit To Protect Fish

April 15, 2009

Release from: Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — An environmental group has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claiming the agency has needlessly limited the habitat protections for the endangered tidewater goby.

In addition to the agency, the lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council in a San Francisco federal court Wednesday also named Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and acting director of Fish and Wildlife Rowan Gould as defendants. Representatives for the federal agency and Salazar could not immediately be reached for comment.

The small, gray fish lives in pockets of disappearing habitat along the California coastline from Del Norte County to San Diego County. The lawsuit alleges the agency has violated the Endangered Species Act by refusing to protect areas essential to the recovery of the fish.