ETWP; Proposed Rule to List the Alabama Sturgeon as Endangered

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Alabama sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi) as endangered under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The Alabama sturgeon's historic range once included about 1,600 kilometers (km) (1,000 miles (mi)) of the Mobile River system in Alabama (Black Warrior, Tombigbee, Alabama, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Mobile, Tensaw, and Cahaba rivers) and Mississippi (Tombigbee River). Since 1985, all confirmed captures have been from a short, free-flowing reach of the Alabama River below Miller's Ferry and Claiborne locks and dams in Clarke, Monroe, and Wilcox counties, Alabama. The historic decline of the Alabama sturgeon is attributed to over-fishing, loss and fragmentation of habitat as a result of navigation-related development, and water quality degradation. Current threats primarily result from its small population numbers and its inability to offset mortality rates with reproduction and recruitment. This proposed rule, if made final, would extend the Act's protection to the Alabama sturgeon.