SHORTNOSE STURGEON 



Common Name: SHORTNOSE STURGEON 

 Scientific Name: Acipenser hrevirostnim 



Listing Date: 03/11/67 



Species Status: Endangered 



Species Trend: Unknown 



Current Estimated Population: Unknown 



SPECIES POPULATION STATUS 



The shortnose sturgeon was listed as endangered throughout its range on March 1 1. 1967. It is 

 an anadromous fish that spawns in the coastal rivers along the east coast of North America from 

 the St. John River in Canada to the St. Johns River in Florida. It prefers the nearshore marine, 

 estuarine and riverine habitat of large river systems. The extent of marine migrations or 

 between-population straying rates are not well-known for shortnose sturgeon. 



No estimate of the historical population size of shortnose sturgeon is available. While the 

 shortnose sturgeon was rarely the target of a commercial fishery, it often was taken incidentally 

 in the commercial fishery for Atlantic sturgeon. In the 1950s, sturgeon fisheries declined on the 

 east coast and with them the documentation of shortnose sturgeon populations that was provided 

 through the analysis of catch data. The Fi.sh and Wildlife Service (FWS) made a determination 

 that shortnose sturgeon were endangered over their range and perhaps eliminated from many 

 river systems altogether. The FWS attributed the decline of both northern and southern 

 populations to pollution and overfishing, both directly and incidentally in shad gillnet fisheries. 



Placing shortnose sturgeon on the endangered species list led to numerous investigations that 

 expanded our knowledge of the species' life history, distribution, and abundance. By the mid- 

 1980s. NMFS had enough information on population levels in one mid-Atlantic and four 

 northern rivers to consider changes in their listing status. Although no action was taken as a 

 result of the 1987 status review. NMFS did recommend listing the species according to river- 

 specific populations rather than as a single species. NMFS recently received a petition to delist 

 the shortnose sturgeon population in the Kennebec River. Following review of the petition and a 

 status review of the species in that river system. NMFS concluded that the was not warranted at 

 that time. Available population size data, as compared to interim listing criteria, did not support 

 a delisting. Further, information on population dynamics (e.g.. natality, natural mortality, age or 

 size structure) that could be used to assess population growth and recruitment were lacking. 

 Threats to the habitat occupied by Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers shortnose sturgeon persist 

 and have the potential to cause substantial declines in abundance. 



As part of the response to this petition, the NMFS also conducted a status review of shortnose 

 sturgeon in the Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers to determine whether populations in the two 

 rivers were distinct population segments. Although available data indicate that the populations 



61 



