By Dana DiFilippo newjerseymonitor.com
The torpedo-shaped Atlantic sturgeon is such an old fish it’s sometimes called a living fossil.
But the endangered Jurassic-era fish is disappearing fast, and New Jersey is poised to play a pivotal role in its extinction, according to environmentalist Maya van Rossum.
“This is an ancient species that has been around since the time of the dinosaurs. It has survived every cataclysmic event on Earth, but now it may be driven to extinction because of the actions of people,” van Rossum said. “We are morally responsible to take actions to correct the behaviors that are resulting in the driving of this species to extinction.”
The Delaware River’s population of Atlantic sturgeon is the most imperiled in the world, with less than 250 spawning adults left — down from more than 200,000 in the late 1800s, van Rossum said.
They’re dying in droves for multiple reasons, including vessel strikes, waters warmed by climate change, and development and dredging projects that ruin their habitat, van Rossum said.
But in her letters alerting federal and state officials of her intent to sue, she focuses on two other problems where she accused officials of failing to act — water pollution and commercial fisheries’ bycatch.
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