Lake sturgeon do not need protections under the Endangered Species Act, federal wildlife officials announced Monday, saying stocking programs have helped the prehistoric fish return to areas where they disappeared.
The decision ends a May 2018 petition from the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity that asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list lake sturgeon as a threatened or endangered species. Such entries would make harvesting the fish illegal, but without them, popular sturgeon fishing seasons in states like Wisconsin and Michigan could still continue.
The USFWS says lake sturgeon are not threatened, allowing continued management of the state
