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For Immediate Release
May, 21 2009, 03:20pm EDT
Contact:
Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185
Protective Regulations Proposed for Ancient, Imperiled Southern Green Sturgeon
SAN FRANCISCO
The National
Marine Fisheries Service today proposed regulations under section 4(d) of the
Endangered Species Act to protect the southern population of green sturgeon from
"take" and other harmful activities. These take prohibitions would make it
unlawful to kill or harm southern green sturgeon and could require changes in
operations of dams and water diversions, commercial and recreational fisheries,
dredging operations, and pesticide applications to protect the green sturgeon,
an imperiled migratory fish that has survived since the
Pleistocene.
"We strongly support the proposed
take regulations, which are urgently needed to ensure rare green sturgeon are
not killed or harmed by water projects, overfishing, or pesticides," said Jeff
Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity.
"Recent surveys have shown some of the lowest recorded numbers of spawning green
sturgeon in the Sacramento
River. With so few southern sturgeon left and the San
Francisco Bay-Delta food web they depend upon unraveling, comprehensive
protection from take is critical for the recovery of this ancient
fish."
The proposed 4(d) rule would
prohibit all unauthorized "take" of southern green sturgeon throughout their
spawning and rearing range in the Sacramento, Feather, and lower Yuba rivers,
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay, and coastal rivers,
estuaries, and marine waters inhabited by sturgeon throughout California,
Oregon, and Washington. ''Take'' includes killing, injuring, harassment,
hunting, capture, or collecting, as well as harm from significant habitat
modification or degradation that impairs breeding, spawning, rearing, migrating,
feeding, or sheltering. Exemptions would allow for tribal fisheries, scientific research and monitoring
activities, emergency rescue
and salvage activities, and habitat restoration
projects.
The rule discusses specific
activities likely to take or harm green sturgeon, including commercial and
recreational fisheries, habitat-altering activities, impeded migration from dams
and water diversions, entrainment during water diversions or dredging,
application of pesticides and pollutants, and nonnative species
introductions.
In order to comply with the 4(d)
rule, state commercial and recreational fisheries would have to submit a
Fisheries Management and Evaluation Plan to theFisheries Service that prohibits
retention of green sturgeon (zero bag limit), includes measures to minimize
incidental take of green sturgeon, and ensures the fishery will not
significantly reduce the likelihood of survival or recovery of the southern
sturgeon population. In 2007, California and Washington revised fishing regulations to
prohibit retention of green sturgeon, and Oregon prohibited retention of green sturgeon
in lower Columbia
River recreational fisheries. For commercial fisheries,
the retention of green sturgeon has been prohibited in the Columbia River since
2006 and statewide in Washington since 2007.
California has
prohibited commercial fishing for sturgeon since 1917.
American Indian fisheries for green
sturgeon would be required to develop tribal resource-management plans for the
fish. The only tribal take of southern green sturgeon is as bycatch in salmon
and white sturgeon fisheries conducted by the Quinault Tribe in coastal
Washington waters. In
2006 the Quinault implemented zero retention of green sturgeon for their
Grays Harbor
fishery. The Yurok and Hoopa tribes harvest green sturgeon in the Klamath River
in California, but most
fish are believed to be from the northern population, which is not federally
protected. Overall, the take of green sturgeon in tribal fisheries has been low
compared to non-tribal fisheries.
In response to a 2001 Center listing
petition and a subsequent lawsuit, the Fisheries Service in 2006 listed the
southern green sturgeon population - fish in the San Francisco Bay and Delta
that spawn in the Sacramento River basin, but migrate along much of the west
coast from Mexico to Canada - as a threatened species under the Endangered
Species Act. In September 2008 the Fisheries Service proposed designating areas
of river, estuarine, bay, and coastal marine habitats in California, Oregon, and Washington as critical
habitat for the southern population of green sturgeon. The proposal included 325
miles of freshwater-river spawning habitat in the Sacramento, lower Feather, and lower Yuba
rivers; more than 1,000 square miles of estuarine and bay habitats in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and other bays and estuaries in California, Oregon, and Washington; and almost
12,000 square miles of coastal marine habitat from Monterey Bay, Calif., to Cape
Flattery, Wash.
The green sturgeon, Acipenser
medirostris, is one of the most
ancient fish species in the world, remaining unchanged in appearance since it
first emerged 200 million years ago. Green sturgeon are among the largest and
longest-living fish species found in freshwater, living up to 70 years, reaching
7.5 feet in length, and weighing up to 350 pounds. Sturgeon have a prehistoric appearance, with a skeleton
consisting of mostly cartilage and rows of bony plates for scales. They have
snouts like shovels and mouths like vacuum cleaners that are used to siphon
shrimp and other food from sandy depths.
Like salmon, sturgeon are
anadromous, migrating to the ocean and returning to freshwater to spawn. Only
three known spawning grounds remain, in the Sacramento and Klamath rivers in California and the Rogue
River in Oregon. Between four
and seven spawning populations have already been eliminated in California and Oregon. The estimated
abundance of green sturgeon in the Sacramento River plummeted by 95 percent between 2001 and
2006. Severe declines in both green and white
sturgeon come as scientists have documented the collapse of other fish
species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, such as
delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, threadfin shad and
striped bass, due to the combined effects of Delta water diversions and exports,
pesticides and pollution, and impacts of introduced species on the Delta's
planktonic food web. Copepods that sustain the Delta
food chain and are a food source for green sturgeon have fallen to the lowest
levels ever recorded.
View the proposed take prohibitions
at: https://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-11945.htm
For more information about the green sturgeon
visit:
www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/fish/North_American_green_sturgeon/index.html
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
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Rümeysa Öztürk, one of several pro-Palestine scholars kidnapped and imprisoned by the Trump administration under its dubious interpretation of an 18th-century law and a Cold War-era national security measure, was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Friday following a federal judge's order.
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BREAKING: a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release on bail Rumeysa Ozturk, a Muslim grad student at Tufts University who was abducted and abused by ICE agents, all because she wrote an editorial, yes, an editorial, critical of the Israeli government's genocide.
[image or embed]
— CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) ( @cairnational.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent consideration of the op-ed, so that creates unto itself a very significant substantial claim that the op-ed—that is, the expression of one's opinion as ordinarily protected by the First Amendment—form the basis of this particular detention," the judge continued, adding that Öztürk's "continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens."
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"Her continued detention cannot stand," he added.
The Trump administration has openly flouted judge's rulings—including a U.S. Supreme Court order—that direct it to release detained immigrants. Sessions' Friday ruling follows his earlier order to send Öztürk to Vermont and Wednesday's 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmation of the judge's directive, both of which have been ignored by the administration.
Seeing that Öztürk was still in ICE custody hours after his order, Sessions reiterated his directive Friday afternoon.
"In light of the court's finding of no flight risk and no danger to the community, petitioner is to be released from ICE custody immediately on her own recognizance, without any form of body-worn GPS or other ICE monitoring at this time," the judge wrote.
Mahsa Khanbabai, Öztürk's attorney, toldCourthouse News Service she's "relieved and ecstatic" that her client has been ordered released.
"Unfortunately, it is 45 days too late," Khanbabai lamented. "She has been imprisoned all these days for simply writing an op-ed that called for human rights and dignity for the people in Palestine. When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?"
The Trump administration has dubiously invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the president to detain dor deport citizens of countries with which the U.S. is at war, in a bid to justify Öztürk's persecution. The administration has also cited the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which empowers the secretary of state to order the expulsion of noncitizens whose presence in the United States is deemed detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests.
"When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?"
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Foreign nationals—and some U.S. citizens wrongfully swept up in the Trump administration's mass deportation effort—are imprisoned in facilities including private, for-profit detention centers, where there are widespread reports of poor conditions and alleged abuses.
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Öztürk also suffers from asthma and told Sessions via Zoom Friday that her attacks have increased behind bars due to stress. Dr. Jessica McCannon, a pulmonologist, testified that Öztürk's asthma appears to be poorly controlled in ICE custody, according to
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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was among those who on Friday demanded Öztürk's immediate release, while other lawmakers and human rights and free speech defenders celebrated Sessions' decision.
"Rümeysa Öztürk has finally been ordered released," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said on social media. "She has been unlawfully detained for more than six weeks in an ICE facility in Louisiana, more than 1,500 miles away from Somerville. This is a victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy."
In the United States, we guarantee free speech. No one here will lose their rights and freedom for publishing an op-ed. This is a win for the rule of law. Rümeysa is free!
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— Representative Becca Balint ( @balint.house.gov) May 9, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that "it is unfathomable that in the United States legal system, it takes 45 days for a judge to rule that people can't be put behind bars for writing op-eds the government doesn't like."
"Without a system committed to its principles, the Constitution is just words on paper, and they don't mean much if this can happen here," Stern continued. "Öztürk's abduction and imprisonment is one of the most shameful chapters in First Amendment history."
"We're thankful that Judge Sessions moved it one step closer to an end and we call on the Trump administration to release Öztürk immediately and not attempt to stall with any further authoritarian nonsense," he added.
Amid President Donald Trump's defunding threats and pressure from ICE officials, universities have told "many hundreds" of international students that they have lost their immigration status and must immediately self-deport. These notifications were based on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) termination of students' records on the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database used by schools and authorities to access visa information.
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In addition to moving to deport pro-Palestine students, the Trump administration is sending Latin American immigrants—including wrongfully expelled Maryland man Kilmar Abrego García—to a notorious prison in El Salvador, and the president has repeatedly threatened to send natural-born U.S. citizens there.
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On Friday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said that Trump and his advisers are "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus as a means of overcoming judicial pushback against the administration's deportation blitz.
"Well, the Constitution is clear—and that of course is the supreme law of the land—that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion," Miller told reporters at the White House. No foreign entity has invaded the United States since Japanese forces landed in the Aleutian Islands in the then-territory of Alaska during World War II.
Critics pointed out that Miller's proposal is, in fact, blatantly unconstitutional.
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It wasn't just Democrats and Palestine defenders who cheered Sessions' ruling Friday. Billy Binion, who covers "all things injustice" for the libertarian website Reason, said on social media that the government's "entire case against her is that... she wrote an op-ed."
"Hard to overstate how bleak—and frankly embarrassing—it is that the Trump administration wants to jail and deport someone for speech," he continued. "In America."
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