NOAA Fisheries is assembling a team of biologists to examine the decline of five Rockfish species in the Puget Sound and determine if it should formally propose listings under the Endangered Species Act.

The assessment follows the acceptance of a petition filed by a Washington citizen. There is evidence that the bocaccio, canary rockfish, yelloweye rockfish, greenstripe rockfish and redstripe rockfish species are much reduced from historical levels. Harvests during the 1970s and 1980s reduced stocks to very low levels. But, the fisheries agency added, there is little information regarding their present abundance. Although these rockfishes once were sought as sportfish, they are now occasionally caught only accidentally in fish harvests directed at other species.

A formal proposal by NOAA's Fisheries Service – to be completed as early as fall would be followed by a year-long period of peer review, public comment and public hearings before any final decision about an official listing could be made.