Delaware River sturgeon added to endangered species list

Calling the Delaware River deepening project a “make-work boondoggle,” the Delaware Riverkeeper Network announced yesterday that the river’s Atlantic sturgeon will be added to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s endangered species list.

Part of the New York Bight population segment, the number of spawning sturgeon adults has been decreasing, due in part to river deepening, fishery bycatch and declining water quality.
“As of today, federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as private parties like shipping companies, are on noticethat 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,” Delaware Riverkeeper Network senior attorney Jane Davenport said in a news release.

The network describes the sturgeon as, “large, long-lived, late-maturing, slow-reproducing migratory fish with a distinctive long snout and armor-like plates.” They can weigh up to 800 lbs.