Why do the upper Columbia white sturgeon need protection?
The white sturgeon is a unique, native fish species that is being threatened with extinction. In the 1990’s, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated it “vulnerable,” and the sturgeon was assigned to BC’s Red List in 1993 after the Conservation Data Centre (CDC) described it as “imperiled.” Subsequently in December 1994, the upper Columbia white sturgeon were listed as “critically imperiled”. In November 2003, COSEWIC assessed the white sturgeon as “endangered,” indicating that this species is facing imminent extirpation or extinction. In summer 2006, the Canadian federal government officially listed this population as Endangered under the Species At Risk Act (SARA). Recent population estimates puts the upper Columbia River white sturgeon at approximately 1,000 wild fish in the Canadian portion of the basin and 1,500 to 2,000 fish from the Canada-U.S. border to Grand Coulee Dam in the U.S. Almost all the fish are greater than 30 years old, sugge
