The prehistoric-looking lake sturgeon may be diminished but it’s neither threatened nor endangered, the Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday in a long-awaited decision that was disappointing to the environmental groups that have advocated on the fish’s behalf.
Prompted by a petition filed in 2018 and a follow-up lawsuit filed in 2020, the federal agency announced its determination that the fish doesn’t qualify for Endangered Species Act protections.
“Although abundance has been drastically reduced, highly and moderately resilient populations are still widely distributed, providing sufficient redundancy for the species rangewide,” the FWS stated.
The FWS added that tribal and state efforts to reestablish the lake sturgeon should keep fish population trends moving in the right direction.
