White sturgeon fish moves closer to endangered status 
US Source: Bay City News Service 7/9/2024
White sturgeon fish moves closer to endangered status
Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service via Bay City News
After over 100 million years of existence, the white sturgeon may be fading from the San Francisco Bay estuary.

On June 19, the California Fish and Game Commission approved white sturgeon as a candidate species for listing under the California Endangered Species Act. Bay Area scientists say their decline is due to increased pollution and a loss of deep-river spawning grounds.
 

The listing could not only affect the sport fishing industry but throw more legal weight behind the argument against state and federal projects that divert and store water from the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. The Sites Reservoir and the Delta Conveyance Tunnel, which are planned to draw excess water from the upper Sacramento River, are both designed to only capture water during wet periods. According to wildlife experts, that’s the same excess water the white sturgeon needs to spawn.

 
San Joaquin River Sturgeon, White Continue...