Endangered Species: The Atlantic Sturgeon

By Guest Blogger Jen Samuel, February 1st 2012

Guest blogger: Jen Samuel is a writer and poet. She works as the managing

editor of the Windsor-Hights Herald newspaper in Princeton, New

Jersey. To contact her, send an e-mail to jenpoetess@gmail.com.

The end of January marked the National Marine Fisheries Service declaring the Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered species. The Atlantic sturgeon, a native fish of the Delaware River, is now part of the federal Endangered Species Act. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists the Atlantic sturgeon as critically endangered. It is a beautiful and unique ancient animal.

“The Atlantic sturgeon, acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus, is a large,long-lived, late-maturing, slow-reproducing migratory fish with a distinctive long snout and armor-like plates,” said the Delaware Riverkeeper Network in a press release on NMFS’ Jan. 31 announcement. “It spawns in rivers such as the Delaware and migrates hundreds of miles to the ocean and back again. Mature adults may live as long as 60 years, reach lengths up to 14 feet and weigh over 800 pounds. The Delaware River once supported the largest known population of Atlantic sturgeon in the world.”

The Atlantic sturgeon is in immediate danger of extinction. Today, it is believed that there is a species populace of fewer than 300 spawning adults in the Delaware River. Yet, there were approximately 180,000 spawning adult females roughly 100 years ago.

The Atlantic sturgeon of the Delaware River is part of the New York Bight distinct population segment. The grouping includes all Atlantic sturgeon that spawn in watersheds draining to coastal waters from Chatham, Maryland to Fenwick Island, Delaware.

In its 2012 listing of the Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, the NMFS recognizes a number of threats harming the fish, including degraded water quality and fisheries bycatch.

However, according to the Delaware Riverkeeper, the NMFS explicitly identifies the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project as a threat to the species: “[T]he location and scope of the project in the Delaware River, coupled with the lack of information on the precise location of spawning and other important habitat in the Delaware River, indicate that the project could be very harmful to the Delaware River riverine population of Atlantic sturgeon.”

Further, the NMFS also identified in its listing decision the impact of increased risk of vessel strikes upon the species as more larger ships are in occupancy of the Delaware River.

“Experts have identified our Delaware River Atlantic Sturgeon as being genetically unique, found nowhere else in the world but (the Delaware) River,” said Maya van Rossum, of the Delaware Riverkeeper. “The National Marine Fisheries Services has stated multiple times that the Delaware River Deepening project is a direct threat to their spawning habitat and the species.”

Ms. van Rossum continued: “We used to have so many sturgeon in our river that the Delaware was known as the caviar capital of the nation. Now we risk losing them forever. We simply have too few to spare for a make-work boondoggle like the Delaware River deepening. Morally speaking, extinguishing the Delaware River unique genetic line

is wrong.”

Jane Davenport, senior attorney at the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, stated: “As of today, federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as private parties like shipping companies, are on notice that each and every Atlantic sturgeon in the Delaware River will be protected by the ESA’s wide-ranging prohibitions against killing or harming it or degrading its habitat. Congress gave public interest groups like the Delaware Riverkeeper Network the explicit right to enforce these protections through citizen suits in federal court, a right we fully intend to exercise as necessary to protect

this ancient fish.”

It is time to protect this species and fight for its survival. The Atlantic sturgeon has an innate right to exist on this planet in peace as an evolved living creature of the Delaware River in America.

For more information on the listing, visit www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/atlsturgeon/.

For more information on the Delaware River and its many inhabitants, or to learn how to take action, visit www.delawareriverkeeper.org.

Image by USFWS