Yesterday, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (also referred to as NOAA Fisheries) announced it will list five distinct population segments (DPSs) of Atlantic sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  This decision concludes NOAA Fisheries’ review of Atlantic sturgeon initiated by the Natural Resources Defense Council’s October 2009 petition.  (Please see our January 7, 2010 client alert for further discussion of this petition, the listing process, and potential effects.) 

Four DPSs will be listed as endangered:  New York Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Carolina, and South Atlantic.  A fifth DPS, the Gulf of Maine, will be listed as threatened.  The Gulf of Maine DPS includes all Atlantic sturgeon that are spawned in the watersheds from the Maine/Canadian border and extending southward to include all associated watersheds draining into the Gulf of Maine as far south as Chatham, MA.  Within this range, Atlantic sturgeon have been documented in the following rivers:  Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Sheepscot, Saco, Piscataqua, Presumpscot, and Merrimack.  The Presumpscot River has been added to this list for the final listing, having not been mentioned in the proposed listing published October 6, 2010.  (76 Fed. Reg. 61872.)  Among these rivers, only the Kennebec River is known so sustain a spawning population, although it is possible some Atlantic sturgeon may spawn in the Penobscot River.  A map of all five Atlantic sturgeon DPSs covered by the listing decision may be seen here.

Please see full alert below for more information.