Delta smelt could make endangered list

Check out fellow bloggers at Unleashed, who linked over to an Associated Press report on the fate of the currently "threatened" delta smelt.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has begun the official process to list the "tiny silver fish" as "endangered" -- a 60-day comment period will end Sept. 8, according to the report.

Animal blogger Francisco Vara-Orta writes:

A Central Valley lawmaker wants the state to build a hatchery to boost the smelt's flagging population. Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter) has proposed a Delta Smelt Preservation and Restoration Act with the primary goal of building at least one hatchery by 2011 to breed the fish.

And in other smelt news, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said earlier this year that it would review the status of the longfin smelt to determine whether it is a threatened or endangered species.

--Tami Abdollah