CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WATE) — A fish that was once locally extinct in Tennessee is back and no longer considered endangered, marking a major milestone for the Tennessee Aquarium’s longest running conservation program.
The conservation status of the Lake Sturgeon in Tennessee has now been downgraded from endangered to threatened. It had been extirpated, or locally extinct, in the state since the 1970s.
Since 1998, the Tennessee Aquarium has worked in collaboration with federal and state agencies as well as universities and other nonprofits to re-establish the species. The Southeast Lake Sturgeon Working Group has raised and released more than 430,000 Lake Sturgeon into the Tennessee and Cumberland river watersheds since 2000.
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“I’m positive the downgrading is a result of the Southeast Lake Sturgeon Working Group’s effort,” said Dr. Anna George, the Tennessee Aquarium’s vice president of conservation science and education…