[env-trinity] Feds Propose Threatened Listing For Sacramento River Green Sturgeon

[Daniel Bacher]

Feds Propose Threatened Listing For Sacramento River Green Sturgeon

by Dan Bacher

NOAA Fisheries on April 5 released a proposal to list green sturgeon south 
of the Eel River as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, 
but refused to list the species in the northern portion of its range.

The proposed listing come in response to a petition filed in 2001 for ESA 
protection for the increasingly rare fish and a subsequent lawsuit filed by 
the Environmental Protection Center (EPIC), the Center for Biological 
Diversity and the Oregon Natural Resources Council.

“New information has become available about green sturgeon during the past 
year from our biological review team and from additional habitat assessment 
in California’s Central Valley,” said Bill Hogarth, NOAA Fisheries assistant 
administrator, in explaining the agency’s reversal of its previous decision 
in January 2003 that neither the northern or southern populations warranted 
listing.

The proposal confirms what environmental organizations and fishing groups 
have known for years – the populations of green sturgeon (Acipenser 
medirostris) in the Sacramento and Feather Rivers have declined 
dramatically. Green sturgeon live up to 70 years, reach 7.5 feet in length 
and weigh up to 350 pounds.

The annual average estimate of the green sturgeon population of the 
Bay-Delta estuary is well under 1,000 fish, according to Jeff Miller, 
spokesman for the Center for Biodiversity. Anglers have also reported 
alarmingly low catches of green sturgeon – in contrast with the relatively 
abundant white sturgeon that they pursue - in the Sacramento River and San 
Francisco Bay-Delta estuary over the past decade.

“Anglers used to catch a lot of green sturgeon in San Pablo and San 
Francisco bays,” said Keith Fraser, owner of Loch Lomond Bait and Tackle and 
the past president of Untied Anglers of California. “In fact, there are 
photos of two sturgeon weighing 150 and 111 pounds, caught 30 years ago, on 
the wall of my shop. Now we hear of very, very few green sturgeon caught.”

Fraser himself has not reported catching a green sturgeon in the last 10 
years. Not only have the numbers of green sturgeon declined dramatically, 
but also keeper-size fish – over the minimum length of 46 inches and under 
the maximum length of 72 inches– are even less common.

NOAA Fisheries biologists used previous studies of salmon in the Central 
Valley to examine the likelihood that spawning habitat has been lost within 
the range of the southern green sturgeon. The green sturgeon require similar 
habitat  as salmon for survival and reproduction. The white sturgeon 
generally spawn lower in the river system and in warmer water than the 
greens.

“It was determined that dams built in the upper Sacramento and Feather 
rivers likely blocked migration of green sturgeon, which led to significant 
reduction of the southern population’s historical habitat,” according to 
NOAA.

The listing is not expected to impact fishing regulations in the Sacramento 
River, and Bay-Delta estuary according to Jim Milbury of NOAA Fisheries. 
Anglers catching the fish while pursuing white sturgeon, striped bass and 
other species will have to release the fish back into the water unharmed if 
the fish is listed, but anglers already release the vast majority of the few 
greens caught because most are undersized.

In addition, green sturgeon have a reputation for being poor good table fare 
compared to the prized white sturgeon, so the rare legal greens caught have 
usually been released by anglers.

While proposing the southern population’s listing, the agency decided that 
the northern population of green sturgeon, extending from the Eel River in 
Humboldt County to the Columbia River in Washington, didn’t deserve 
threatened status.

“The presence of two spawning populations in the northern DPS (distinct 
population segment) and the likely continued spawning in other rivers 
reaffirms the previous determination that this population does not warrant 
listing under the ESA,” according to the agency. “Due to concerns over the 
uncertainty and availability of data, the northern population will be placed 
on NOAA Fisheries Species of Concern list and its status will be re-assesses 
within five years, if information warrants.”

Environmental groups applauded the listing of the southern green sturgeon 
population, but criticized the agency for refusing to propose threatened 
status for the northern population.

“This decision is a leap toward recovery for this ancient fish in the 
Sacramento River and Bay-Delta, but we still have a long way to go,” said 
Jeff Miller. “By leaving the northern population completely unprotected, the 
Bush administration is setting up the sturgeon and their river habitats to 
become further causalities in the Klamath Basin water war.”

Environmentalists emphasize that water agencies, agricultural interests, 
developers and the Bush administration have been working to strip habitat 
protections, endangering the health of the clean, flowing rivers that green 
sturgeon need to survive. Lawyers for water agencies opposing the listing 
went so far as to argue that green sturgeon do not need their spawning 
habitat protected because the fish could simply remain in the ocean instead 
– ignoring the biological reality that green sturgeon can only reproduce in 
cool, unpolluted freshwater streams!

“While the court rejected the outrageous arguments of the agricultural 
industry and water agencies, the Bush administration’s continual failure to 
address water withdrawals from critical fishery habitat smacks of political 
payback,” said Miller. “These unsustainable water policies are a prime 
example of the administration’s subversion of science and rational policy to 
benefit campaign contributors over the public interest.”

The adult fish range in marine waters from Alaska to Mexico and feed in 
estuaries and bays from San Francisco Bay to British Columbia. Only three 
spawning populations are known to remain – in the Sacramento and Klamath 
rivers in California and the Rogue River in Oregon. Of these systems, the 
most spawning is believed to occur in the Klamath-Trinity system, according 
to NOAA Fisheries.

Between four and seven spawning populations have already been lost in 
California and Oregon. The current population estimates for the Rogue and 
Klamath Trinity rivers aren’t known, though they are thought to contain 
“only a few hundred females of spawning age, at most,” said Miller.

If you are concerned about the restoration of the green sturgeon fishery, I 
urge you comment regarding your views on this proposal. Comments must be 
received within 90 days after date of the publication of the proposed rule 
in the Fedreal Register. Comments may be submitted by any of the following 
methods.
•  E-Mail:  GreenSturgeon.Comments at noaa.gov
•  Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.  Follow the  
instructions for submitting comments.
•  Mail: Submit written comments to Chief, Protected Resources Division, 
Southwest Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, 501 West Ocean Blvd., 
Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA, 90802-4213.