House Republicans passed measures Thursday to repeal the government’s decision to place finger-sized fish, a California longfin confectionery, on the endangered species list.
The House of Representatives passed a resolution introduced by California Rep. Doug Ramalfa (Richvale), following the party’s line, voting 216-195 votes. The resolution is now sent to the Republican-controlled Senate.
For the record:
2:07 PM May 1, 2025An earlier version of this story listed the false party affiliation of Republican Rep. Doug Ramalfa.
“We want to block the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s misguided decision and list the San Francisco Bay Delta population of Longfin’s smelt as at risk,” Ramalfa, who represents a rice-growing region in northern California, said before the vote.
He said last year the agency’s decision to declare fish species at risk was “unscientific” and that it has made it difficult to get water from Sacramento’s Joaquin River Delta to farmers.
The resolution was condemned by the Democrats. Democrats said the resolution is against science and 2019 research by federal wildlife officials.
“They are turning small fish into very large scapegoats, and somehow pretending to provide real support to the farmers,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael).
“The Longfin population has declined by more than 99% since the 1980s,” Huffman said. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed laws, data and science, as Congress intended.”
Under the 1996 provisions, the repeal of the Fish and Wildlife Department’s 2024 allows Congress to review and disapprove rules adopted under certain circumstances.
Opponents said they feared the Senate would pass the measure. If approved and signed by President Trump, it would be the first lawsuit by Congress to use that power under the 1996 law to strip protection from species under the Endangered Species Species Act.
Longfin Milt, which lives in bays and estuaries along the Pacific coast, is the sixth fish species at the San Francisco Bay Estuary and will be added to the federal list of endangered species. The fish once filled the bay, but federal wildlife officials after they determined that it suffered a dramatic decline.
The agency’s decision began with a 2007 petition filed by environmental groups and followed a lengthy process involving several litigation. The fish was listed by California as threatened in 2009.
Environmental groups said that the decline in longfin smelt and other fish species, such as delta smelt and chinook salmon, are linked to water management policies that have reduced flow through the estuary and contributed to poor water quality.
“The resolution will essentially condemn the smell of long fins in San Francisco Bay at extinction,” said John Rosenfield, director of science at the group’s San Francisco Baykeeper. “Removing protection for this fish would also impact other ordered fish populations, fisheries and clean waters in the Delta.”
Supporters of the measure include a group called the Union, which includes local leaders, farmers and businesses. Austin Ewell, executive director of the group, said in a letter to Congress that the list of government species exacerbates water shortages in the valley and abolishing endangered status “is a critical step to continuing to secure water resources.”
However, environmentalists accused Republicans of violating Congressional Review Act standards. The group argued that the action was too late and said Congress could not legally overturn the protections under the law at this point.
Cameron Walkup, the legislative representative of the group’s associates, said the actions by the Republicans “may unleash the box of Pandora’s deregulation attacks.” He urged the Senate to oppose what he called a “dangerous attack” on the Endangered Species Species Act.
