California’s white sturgeon population collapsing, down nearly 80% in less than a decade

Sacramento, California – The ancient white sturgeon, a prehistoric species that has survived ice ages and mass extinctions, is now facing one of its greatest threats — not from nature, but from modern California. State wildlife officials confirmed this week that the population of white sturgeon in California has plummeted to crisis levels, with recent surveys estimating just 6,500 individuals between 40 and 60 inches long. That’s a staggering drop from the 30,000 fish previously estimated in that size range as recently as 2021.

The numbers, released in a report by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), paint a dire picture for North America’s largest freshwater fish. Once common in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the San Francisco Bay, the white sturgeon is increasingly rare — not because of any single cause, but due to a cumulative weight of environmental degradation, climate disruption, and human interference.

Mortality from harmful algal blooms — which have intensified alongside rising water temperatures — killed over 850 sturgeon in 2022 alone. That loss, combined with decades of poaching, heavy sport fishing, and deteriorating river conditions, has driven population numbers to levels that many scientists view as unsustainable.

“The changes are happening faster than they can adapt,” UC Davis biologist Andrea Schreier said last year, pointing to the pace of climate-driven shifts in the Bay-Delta ecosystem. And unlike other fish species, sturgeon don’t reproduce every year — a fact that leaves little room for error in recovery efforts.

CDFW began implementing a new, more comprehensive population survey method last year, in collaboration with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and local fishing guides. The updated study, based on mark-and-recapture techniques used in Oregon and Washington, gives researchers a clearer — and more sobering — view of the species’ decline.

Using these methods, scientists now estimate that there are about 19,000 white sturgeon in California ranging in size from 10 to 87 inches. While that figure sounds more encouraging, the critical size group (40–60 inches) — the fish most likely to be targeted for sport and reproduction — has seen a dramatic collapse.

With those findings, the species is currently a candidate for protection under the California Endangered Species Act. It receives interim protection while the state reviews whether it should be formally listed as threatened. In the meantime, catch-and-release fishing remains suspended through October 1. The California Fish and Game Commission is expected to consider extending or tightening restrictions at its upcoming August 13 meeting.

For a species that predates humanity by nearly 200 million years, the white sturgeon’s fate in California now depends on decisions being made in meeting rooms and bureaucratic hearings — and whether the state can reverse course before the river runs dry of giants.