The Atlantic Sturgeon is a bony, prehistoric fish that has survived for over 120 million years and the species has witnessed the extinction of the dinosaurs. Observing this fish we really can look back in time what it was like during the age of the dinosaurs. Certainly one would think that a robust fish such as this can survive anything. Apparently not since it is listed as critically endangered on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Before 1890 the Atlantic Sturgeon population in the Delaware river was listed around 180,000, now they are estimated at only around 300 as of 2007 which is the lowest population level ever recorded for this fish. The reason for the decline? It is directly related to human presence in the
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They have no bony skeleton only cartilage, but they have five rows of protective bones or scutes. Many boat accidents have been recorded involving boats running over or hitting the Atlantic Sturgeon. Uncountable numbers of any species of fish get massacred in the onslaught of massive boats every day. Very large numbers of deceased fish was up on shore completely ravaged. These boat collisions are rare since the Atlantic Sturgeon is a bottom dweller and they spend most of their time at depths of 1,000 feet or more in bodies of water where that is possible. Intakes for dams and nuclear power plants also kill billions of fish and organisms every year. For example, the Salem Nuclear Power Plant in southern New Jersey has said that their facility alone kills three billion fish and other organisms annually. Eggs and smaller fish get sucked in and shredded, and juveniles and adults are crushed against the intake screens. Converting to a closed-loop system by which river water is re-circulated and cooled by towers would reduce fish mortality by about 95 percent. But this would probably cost $400 to $800 million, and PSEG or Public Service Enterprise Group does not want to make this investment. The state of New Jersey has allowed this plant to operate without a discharge permit since 2006 making the change nearly impossible. Recently three groups got together and …show more content…
There may be signs of recovery in the Delaware River, for scientists are capturing Sturgeon so small that they say they couldn't have been spawned outside the river. Pollution has derived rivers that the Atlantic Sturgeon inhabits of oxygen killing off baby and juvenile fish in large numbers and the adults stopped reproducing and the population hit a large decline. Now thanks to passage of the federal
They have no bony skeleton only cartilage, but they have five rows of protective bones or scutes. Many boat accidents have been recorded involving boats running over or hitting the Atlantic Sturgeon. Uncountable numbers of any species of fish get massacred in the onslaught of massive boats every day. Very large numbers of deceased fish was up on shore completely ravaged. These boat collisions are rare since the Atlantic Sturgeon is a bottom dweller and they spend most of their time at depths of 1,000 feet or more in bodies of water where that is possible. Intakes for dams and nuclear power plants also kill billions of fish and organisms every year. For example, the Salem Nuclear Power Plant in southern New Jersey has said that their facility alone kills three billion fish and other organisms annually. Eggs and smaller fish get sucked in and shredded, and juveniles and adults are crushed against the intake screens. Converting to a closed-loop system by which river water is re-circulated and cooled by towers would reduce fish mortality by about 95 percent. But this would probably cost $400 to $800 million, and PSEG or Public Service Enterprise Group does not want to make this investment. The state of New Jersey has allowed this plant to operate without a discharge permit since 2006 making the change nearly impossible. Recently three groups got together and …show more content…
There may be signs of recovery in the Delaware River, for scientists are capturing Sturgeon so small that they say they couldn't have been spawned outside the river. Pollution has derived rivers that the Atlantic Sturgeon inhabits of oxygen killing off baby and juvenile fish in large numbers and the adults stopped reproducing and the population hit a large decline. Now thanks to passage of the federal