By Cory Nealon 10:05 AM EST, February 1, 2012 Atlantic sturgeon
in Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere will be designated an endangered
species, federal regulators announced Tuesday. Effective April
6, the listing will provide greater protection for the dinosaur-
like fish and may add irksome regulations to the commercial
fishing industry. Once common throughout the bay and Atlantic
coast, sturgeon are known for their bony plates, called scutes.
They live in saltwater and freshwater, can grow up to 14 feet
long and weigh up to 800 pounds. Prized for their eggs, which
sold as caviar, and their skin, which was worked as leather and
turned in clothing, book-binding and other products, sturgeon
were heavily fished during the 19th and 20th centuries. Fishing,
combined with loss of habitat, pollution and ship strikes,
decreased the population, leading Virginia to outlaw commercial
harvesting in 1974. A national ban followed in 1998. Despite the
protection, sturgeon have been slow to recover. A 2007 report
from the National