For Immediate Release
Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
The National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries has two new habitat designations for the Atlantic sturgeon, which will help protect the fish and our waters. This designation will help protect Atlantic Sturgeon in 15 other rivers from Maine to Virginia that are important for migrations, spawning, and juvenile growth. At one time, the Delaware River had millions of Atlantic Sturgeon, but today there are only a few hundred. Now there will be protection of the Atlantic Sturgeon in the Delaware River from the crossing of the Trenton Morrisville Route 1 Toll Bridge, downstream for 137 river kilometers to where the main stem river discharges at its mouth into Delaware Bay. It will also help protect Atlantic sturgeon in the Hudson River. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:
“It is important that NMFS is protecting Atlantic Sturgeon because it will help prevent fish kills and improve our drinking water. For far too long, industrial facilities along these rivers have slaughtered millions of fish like the Atlantic Sturgeon. The Atlantic Sturgeon have seen numbers continued to drop and we need immediate action to help this endangered species. With this new designation, both the Delaware River and the Hudson River will have protections in place to help the Atlantic Sturgeon. This is not only good for the fish, but will help protect water quality for both the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.”
“For forty years the DEP has been ignored the Clean Water Act and has allowed the Salem Nuclear power plant to pollute the Delaware River and destroy fisheries. Instead of doing their job and require a closed-loop system, or cooling towers, they have looked the other way. The Salem power plants have antiquated cooling systems that not only destroys species of fish, but it threatens the Delaware River’s water quality and the supply for drinking water for 15 million people. This plant dumps many hazardous and toxic chemicals including metals, fungicides, and anti-corrosives. The DEP should really be called the Department of Excessive Pollution because they have failed to put in cooling towers to protect the fish and the environment. In 1990 the DEP required cooling towers at this plant. Then politics came into play and that requirement was removed. That’s why we this new designation.”
“The Atlantic Sturgeon are extremely sensitive species that are endangered and need to be protected. These species used to be so plentiful in the Delaware River that their roe or caviar was shipped as far away as Russia. Today, there may be as few as 300 spawning adults in the River. The DEP and the Christie Administration have failed when it comes to requiring industrial facilities to have cooling towers, which has caused tremendous water pollution and fish kills. That is why it is so important the federal government is stepping in to protect them.”