And now for some happy conservation news! The Oregon chub, a small ray-finned fish found only in Oregon’s Willamette River, is making a lucky leap off the US government’s Endangered Species List. It’s a bit of a historic moment for the rather ordinary-looking chub – it’s about to become the very first fish species to be delisted following an impressive recovery.

Reliant on very particular floodplain environments with little or no water flow in the Willamette River Basin, the Oregon chub (Oregonichthys crameri) suffered major population declines during the twentieth century when its habitat was hit by urban development, expanding agriculture and various flood-control projects. The introduction of non-native predatory fish into the river put even more pressure on the species. By 1993, just eight populations with fewer than 1,000 fish were known to exist and the species was listed as endangered (it was reclassified as threatened by 2010). 

“It’s a historic moment for the ordinary-looking chub – it’s about to become the very first fish species to be delisted following an impressive recovery.”

Two decades of conservation efforts later, the Oregon chub has made an impressive recovery. Awareness campaigns, habitat restoration and the reintroduction of the fish into areas from which it had disappeared have helped to boost populations, with numbers now reaching more than 150,000 in 80 diverse locations. A proposal to remove the species from the endangered list was announced yesterday in a press release posted on the Department of Fish and Wildlife's website.  

 “While the chub isn’t an iconic fish species that many think about in the Pacific Northwest, it is a very important part of the ecosystem and indicator of good water quality and ecosystem health. By successfully recovering the chub, we’re helping many iconic wildlife species and improving the watershed for all Oregonians,” said Paul Henson, the Oregon director of Fish and Wildlife. 

Top header image: USFWS - Pacific Region, Flickr