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| Alabama sturgeon joins America's most endangered
The rarest unprotected fish in the United States will soon be listed as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed this week. Conservation groups have spent the past 10 years campaigning for the listing. "Finally, Bruce Babbitt has followed the law," said Edward Mudd Jr., a board member of the Biodiversity Legal Foundation. "We had to go through three lawsuits and numerous legal petitions but, at last, this fish is going to get the legal protection it needs and deserves." Once so abundant that it was caught and sold commercially for its rich meat, the Alabama sturgeon has become one of the rarest fish in North America. Most biologists blame overfishing and destruction of suitable river habitat for the sharp decline of the species. "After many months of careful review, consideration and discussion of the best available scientific information and more than 4,000 public comments, I am confident that listing the Alabama sturgeon as endangered is the right decision," said Sam Hamilton, the Fish and Wildlife Service's regional director for the Southeast.
The listing under the Endangered Species Act will protect the Alabama sturgeon from killing, harming, harassing, possessing, or removing the species from the wild. It requires federal agencies to protect the species and its habitat and provides funding to support recovery, including grants to state conservation programs. The Fish and Wildlife Service will have a year to evaluate critical habitat for the species. Of more than 4,000 public comments that were submitted on the March 1999 proposal to list the sturgeon, opposition to the action reflected three areas of concern: economic impact, overprotection of the fish and lack of conclusive data on the status of the species. "Concerns about economic decline on the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers as a result of listing the Alabama sturgeon are unfounded," said Hamilton. "There are four protected aquatic species already in these rivers, and negative economic impacts have not occurred. Putting the Alabama sturgeon on the endangered species list will not change the status quo on these rivers. Current activities such as navigation channel dredging, hydroelectric power production, agricultural and silvicultural (business) will not be stopped." Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved RELATED STORIES: Texas manifesto: Stop the shrimping, spare the sea turtle RELATED ENN STORIES: Pallid sturgeon return to Missouri waters RELATED SITES: Wild Alabama |
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