Reps. Calvert and LaMalfa Introduce the Federally Integrated Species Health Act

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) and Congressman Doug LaMalfa (CA-1), and others, introduced the Federally Integrated Species Health (FISH) Act, H.R. 3916. The legislation would consolidate the management and regulation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) within the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

"It makes no sense to have multiple federal agencies responsible for enforcing the ESA," said Rep. Calvert. "The FISH Act is a good government bill that will benefit species and all stakeholders affected by the ESA through a unified approach to managing threatened and endangered species. As we have seen in the California Bay Delta and other complex habitats, there are often conflicting and incompatible measures taken by different resource agencies."

Rep. LaMalfa said: "Last year, the conflicting ESA responsibilities of the FWS and NMFS resulted in one agency demanding that water be released from Shasta Dam for Delta smelt, while simultaneously the other agency demanded that water be held back for salmon. The right hand should know what the left hand is doing, and the FISH Act will lead to better decisions by ensuring personnel working on different species actually talk to one another when developing policies. Farmer or environmentalist, urban or rural, everyone should support cutting duplicative bureaucracies to generate ESA plans that work."

The ESA is currently administered by FWS and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The FWS has primary responsibility for terrestrial and freshwater organisms, while the responsibilities of NMFS are mainly marine wildlife such as whales and anadromons fish, such as salmon. The FISH Act would transfer all of the NMFS' ESA responsibilities to the FWS.

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