SavingSeaFood - Va. sturgeon may be key to fish’s recovery

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Va. sturgeon may be key to fish’s recovery

The once-bountiful Atlantic sturgeon that sustained Native Americans and North America’s first European settlers now may number in the hundreds in the Chesapeake Bay, but no one really knows.

“If sturgeon are to be restored to the Chesapeake Bay, it will happen on the backs of the James River population,’’ said Greg C. Garman, director for the Center for Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and one of the leaders of this collaborative effort.

Last month, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the Chesapeake Bay sturgeon was among five East Coast populations proposed for protection. The proposed listing is a desperate attempt to save “a fish of superlatives,’’ Garman said.

The listing would be aimed at protecting the fish’s habitat; their harvest is already banned.

“Sturgeon is the most endangered family of fish,’’ said Brad Sewell, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has pushed for protections. “Globally, they’re all going extinct.’’

Read the complete story by the AP at The Boston Globe.

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