S.Coast Coaster decision delayed

Agency delays decision on coaster brook trout
by The Associated Press
Saturday December 06, 2008, 10:42 AM

MARQUETTE, Mich. - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delayed a decision on whether to place the coaster brook trout on the endangered species list.

The agency had planned to make a tentative decision by Dec. 15 about the fish, which once thrived in the upper Great Lakes.

But Jessica Hogrefe, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife regional office in Minneapolis, tells The Mining Journal of Marquette for a Saturday story the agency is pushing back the decision until April to get more data.

"Coasters" are a type of brook trout that migrate from streams to lakes. Their historical range took in parts of Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior, with spawning runs in more than 50 streams flowing into Lake Superior from Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.