May 5, 2013 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently issued estimates of coastal populations of the fish that are healthier than many thought. The estimate of more than 400,000 fish per year from Maine to North Carolina raised eyebrows among scientists and highlighted the lack of population data that were available when the designation was made.
“That’s a lot of fish for something that is considered to be endangered,” said Ike Wirgin, a City University of New York geneticist who provided DNA analysis as part of NOAA’s report. “And those numbers don’t include estimates of the size of the populations that are still within their natal estuaries, nor do they include the size of the populations that are in the ocean from North Carolina down to Georgia.”
NOAA officials say there are no plans to remove Atlantic sturgeon from the list, pending a more comprehensive assessment of the species that will begin this spring. That assessment will consider coastal populations and data from rivers where the fish go to spawn, as well as threats from accidental catches, dredging, pollution, climate change and even boat strikes.
NOAA considered listing the species as far back as 1997, but decided against it after completing its first status review. Still, the agency kept Atlantic sturgeon on a list of potential candidates.
One year later, the 15-state Atlantic States Fisheries Commission instituted a minimum 20-year moratorium on coastal fishing for Atlantic sturgeon meat and caviar. That decision was based on concerns that spawning stocks — the fish that swim into the rivers — had dwindled to dangerously low levels. Protect the fish that live in the ocean, so the thinking went, and more will be able to swim into the rivers to spawn.
In 2005, NOAA decided a second review was needed. Scientists from the agency’s National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, assessed the species’ vulnerability.
The group published its assessment in 2007, identifying five distinct population groups based on physical, genetic and physiological factors. The report concluded that three of those distinct population groups — including the New York group — had a better than 50 percent chance of becoming endangered over the next 20 years. The other two groups had a “moderate” chance.
Read the full story at the Poughkeepsie Journal