April 5, 2012 – Most people in North Carolina have never seen an Atlantic sturgeon. Once common along the coast, the fish became so rare that to preserve the remaining population the state more than 20 years ago made it illegal to possess one.
Starting Friday, though, the full weight of the U.S. government will get behind the protection of what remains of this ancient fish whose ancestors swam among dinosaurs.
Once prized for its roe to make caviar, the Atlantic sturgeon will go on the federal Endangered Species List that day, not only in North Carolina, but also in the Delaware and Hudson rivers, the Chesapeake Bay and the rest of the South Atlantic Ocean.
Read the complete story from The Outer Banks Voice.