A federal judge in Seattle ruled that repairing a 140-year-old tidegate that protects 200 acres of farmland in the Skagit Delta could drive Puget Sound salmon and killer whales to extinction.

The decision April 28 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida was a blow to farmers in the fertile delta 70 miles north of Seattle and a victory for the National Marine Fisheries Service and Swinomish Indian tribe.

The storm-battered tidegate at the mouth of No Name Slough and Padilla Bay allows farming on land that was a marsh prior to the 1880s, according to Tsuchida. Repairing the tidegate will perpetuate for another 50 years harm to federally protected salmon and the killer whales that feed on salmon, Tsuchida ruled.

A consortium of diking districts sued NMFS to get permission to repair the tidegate, claiming the agency overreached by finding that repairing the tidegate posed a new threat to salmon and killer whales throughout Puget Sound.

The consortium also argued the repaired tidegate would swing open from the side rather than the top, letting water and fish pass more easily and improving baseline conditions.

The consortium’s director, Jenna Friebel, said the organization has not decided whether to appeal.

“The consortium disagrees with the summary judgment and is disappointed with the outcome of the case,” Friebel said. “Our members remain committed to developing solutions that are grounded in facts, science and the logical application of those elements.”

A NMFS spokesman said the agency was reviewing the decision and had no comment.

Tidegates swing shut to hold back salty tides and swing out for drainage. The ruling could set a precedent for repairs to some 100 tidegates in the delta.

Skagit County tulip bulb farmer John Roozen said that without tidegates much of the delta would be underwater at Puget Sound high tides. “Drainage is fundamental,” he said.

NMFS’ longtime definition of “harm” under the ESA means habitat modification that threatens entire populations of federally protected species. The Trump administration has proposed pulling in the reach of the ESA by dropping the definition, which doesn’t appear in the act.

In a decision issued last spring, NMFS said the tidegate could be repaired if the tidegate’s owner, Skagit County Diking District 12, restored 8.6 acres somewhere else in the delta to fish habitat.

The district estimated the restoration project would cost about $2.5 million and that it had only $100,000 a year available for drainage projects.

Tsuchida noted that public records showed the district had more than $19 million in cash and investments. The district argued it was financially obligated to provide flood protection to the city of Burlington.

The Pacific Northwest Waterways Association filed a friend-of-the court brief supporting the diking district. NMFS has held up dredging and dock repairs by treating routine maintenance as a new threat to endangered species, according to the waterways association.

The Swinomish tribe filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing the lack of fish habitat hindered salmon recovery and that tidegates were being repaired without corresponding projects to restore habitat.