Court Rules for Ancient Green Sturgeon
Listing Decision Remanded Back to Federal Fisheries Service

April 1, 2004


EPIC's ongoing campaign to protect the green sturgeon moved a giant leap forward on March 3, when a federal court ruled the Bush Administration must reconsider its January 2003 decision to deny our petition to list this ancient fish under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court ruled this decision was "arbitrary and capricious," noting a precipitous decline in populations of this giant fish that has lived since the age of the dinosaur.

Green sturgeons have changed little over the last 200 million years, weighing up to 350 pounds, growing up to 7 feet, and living up to 70 years. Photo: Oregon Dept. of Fish and Game

The Court's ruling notes that "despite the scientific evidence of `the alarming reduction in spawning range of the green sturgeon,' in the words of its own scientist, the National Marine Fisheries Service [NMFS] downplayed the threat" and "failed to analyze whether the species was threatened in a significant portion of its range...."

NMFS acknowledges that "green sturgeon no longer spawn in several former spawning river systems," including the San Joaquin, Eel, and South Fork Trinity Rivers in California and the Umpqua River in Oregon. Today, green sturgeons spawn only in parts of the Sacramento and Klamath rivers in California and the Rogue River in Oregon, a far more concentrated area than in the past.

EPIC first submitted a formal scientific research petition in 2001 to document the dramatic decline in green sturgeon populations and request that the sturgeon be listed as endangered under the ESA. Together with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Oregon Natural Resources Defense Council, EPIC is determined to carry this action through and ensure this ancient fish finally receives the protection it needs and deserves.

EPIC is represented in this case by CBD attorney Brent Plater and EPIC attorney Sharon Duggan. More information on the green sturgeon is on EPIC's website at www.wildcalifornia.org.


This article can be found online at www.wildcalifornia.org/publications/article-52