New York isn't doing enough to protect ancient Atlantic sturgeons, lawsuit argues
The Atlantic sturgeon survived the ice age and outlasted the dinosaurs, but the 250 million-year-old forage fish might not survive the modern age.
In the Hudson River, there were just 450 adults in 2014, about half the number recorded in 1998, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Atlantic sturgeon was so plentiful in the 18th and 19th centuries that it was known as "Albany beef." But overfishing has drastically reduced the population.
While the anadromous — meaning that it migrates from the sea to a river to spawn — fish has been illegal to capture, kill or harm for more than a decade under the Endangered Species Act, the use of nets in commercial fishing has pushed it closer to the brink of extinction, according to a new lawsuit by environmental group Riverkeeper. Advocates allege the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, along with the state environmental agencies of Delaware and New Jersey, have failed to protect the Atlantic sturgeon and are turning a blind eye to illegal bycatch of the fish.
"The Atlantic sturgeon, an ancient sentinel of the Hudson River, stands on the brink of extinction due to a failure of regulatory oversight," Riverkeeper's Executive Director Tracy Brown said. "Our legal action is not merely about enforcing compliance; it's about confronting a systemic failure that has jeopardized a species teetering on the edge of disappearance."
The lawsuit , filed late last month in Brooklyn federal court, seeks to force the Department of Environmental Conservation to file a "conservation plan" for the sturgeon with the federal government.
"Atlantic sturgeon have been listed as endangered for over a decade," Riverkeeper Staff Attorney Victoria Leung said. "The state knows that their commercial fisheries are capturing Atlantic sturgeon by accident."
Riverkeeper cites scientific research showing that juvenile sturgeon spawn in the Hudson River, swim out to the Atlantic, and don't come back. That data, the suit argues, is evidence that commercial fishers are causing high levels of harm and death to the bottom-feeders in New York waters.
"We don't have [commercial] fisheries in the Hudson, and this is how we know that the loss of life primarily is out in the waters outside of our rivers," Brown said.
The commercial fishing industry drags giant nets as wide as football fields across the seafloor, which trap everything in their way while also damaging the habitat. The fishermen are looking to catch flounder, squid, striped bass and other fish that are sold in grocery stores. But the Atlantic sturgeon, a bottom-feeder that can grow up to 14 feet and 800 pounds, is highly vulnerable to being caught in the dragnets, according to Riverkeeper.
The Department of Environmental Conservation "is committed to the protection and restoration of threatened and endangered species," Jeff Wernick, a spokesperson for the agency, wrote in an email.
The lawsuit cites research showing sturgeon struggle to recover after being caught in the nets, if they survive at all.
Advocates are also asking state environmental agencies to better manage net-fishing to protect the few remaining sturgeon. Brown said net fishing should be prohibited around the Rockaways, where sturgeon are known to forage.
In April, the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council and New England Fishery Management Council approved a plan to reduce sturgeon bycatch. If approved, the rule could go into effect as early as this month.
Riverkeeper said its lawsuit seeking to force New York state to more aggressively protect the sturgeon will proceed, regardless of whether the rule is approved.
