Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for Russian, Ship, Persian, and Stellate Sturgeon

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list four species of Eurasian sturgeon as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Specifically, we are proposing to list the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii), ship sturgeon (A. nudiventris), Persian sturgeon (A. persicus), and stellate sturgeon (A. stellatus), all large fish native to the Black, Azov, Aral, Caspian, and northern Aegean Sea basins and their rivers in Europe and western Asia. This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list these four species. After a review of the best scientific and commercial information available, we find that listing all four species is warranted. Accordingly, we propose to list the Russian, ship, Persian, and stellate sturgeon as endangered species under the Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add these species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the four species.