February 18, 2015 — For the first time, a fish has been removed from U.S. Endangered Species Act protection as federal officials declared on Tuesday that a tiny shimmering minnow found only in an Oregon valley was no longer in danger of extinction.
Millions of the two-inch (5-cm) fish, the Oregon chub, once swam in waters surrounding Western Oregon's Willamette River. But their numbers declined sharply over the past century as wetlands were drained for development and due to predation by nonnative fish like largemouth bass.
Fewer than 1,000 remained in just eight wetlands in 1993 when the chub gained protection under the Endangered Species Act. The fish was upgraded from "endangered" to "threatened" status in 2004, as populations began to rebound.
Today, more than 150,000 chubs are estimated in 80 sites along the river valley because of recovery efforts like restoring water flows, floodplain reconstruction and stocking in private ponds.
Read the full story at Reuters