Federal drama - a possible endangered species listing - encircles Minnesota sturgeon

The strong comeback of lake sturgeon in Minnesota is celebrated year after year with a two-staged, statewide catch-and-release fishing season implemented in 2015.

The species' survival and recovery story has been decades in the making, enabled by the Clean Water Act of 1972 and further coaxed by state and federal conservation efforts that ended commercial fishing, removed dams, stocked baby sturgeons and restored spawning areas.

In the Rainy River and portions of Lake of the Woods, for example, sturgeon numbers have grown more than six-fold since the late 1980s to a count of more than 100,000 fish at least 3 feet, 4 inches long.

https://www.startribune.com/sturgeon-minnesota-federal-endangered-species-listing/600358050/