New Content! Green Sturgeon Numbers Rising...

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Check out our newest article! Green Sturgeon Numbers on the Rise? Time Will Tell... "...My gut feeling is that the adult population is increasing and, being cautiously optimistic, production may also start to increase with improvements to spawning habitat accessibility."                                                                                      -- Joe Heublein, Green Sturgeon Recovery Coordinator, NOAA     By Steve Martarano August 16, 2016 Green sturgeon is a rarity these days for a fish species found in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta – but its numbers could be increasing. While high-profile Delta species such as Delta smelt and Winter-run Chinook salmon are at record lows and facing possible extinction, that doesn't seem to be the case with Sacramento River green sturgeon – listed as threatened by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Endangered Species Act in 2006. Recent efforts to assist green sturgeon appear to be helping. Whether the increase marks a long-term trend is to be determined. Data collected through the month of June from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's rotary-screw trap surveys at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam showed a juvenile green sturgeon 2016 Relative Abundance Index – which measures catch per unit volume – at an all-time high for the survey at over 30 fish per acre-feet of water volume sampled. This represents a 34 percent increase from the previous high in 2011. For comparison, the 2015 index was 3.3 fish per acre-feet.   See the full story here... Stay Connected with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region     SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe All  |  Help   This email was sent to mantiskhiralla@gmail.com using GovDelivery, on behalf of: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region · 2800 Cottage Way · Suite W-2606 · Sacramento, CA 95825