Conservation groups are suing the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware over the taking of endangered Atlantic sturgeon as bycatch in state-run fisheries.
“The Atlantic sturgeon of the Delaware and Hudson rivers are at imminent risk of extinction – killed by dredging, deepening, vessel strikes, habitat loss, pollution, and bycatch due to multiple commercial fisheries,” Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum said in a statement. “At every turn, our state and federal agencies have failed to take action to protect the sturgeon.”
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and New York-based Riverkeeper, both of which are nonprofit organizations, filed individual lawsuits in all three states alleging that state regulators are not taking adequate steps to protect Atlantic sturgeon from extinction.
“The Atlantic sturgeon, an ancient sentinel of the Hudson River, stands on the brink of extinction due to a failure of regulatory oversight,” Riverkeeper President Tracy Brown said in a statement. “Our legal action is not merely about enforcing compliance; it’s about ...
