Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Withdrawal of Proposed Rule for Endangered Status and Critical Habitat for the Alabama Sturgeon

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) withdraws the proposed rule to determine endangered status and critical habitat for the Alabama sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This sturgeon is endemic to, and was once widespread in, the Mobile River system in Alabama and Mississippi. It has significantly declined in both population size and range during the past century. The fish was last known to exist in only a short, free-flowing reach of the Alabama River downstream of Claiborne Lock and Dam in Clarke and Monroe Counties, Alabama; it may still exist in some other portions of its historical range. The primary factors that have likely contributed to the sturgeon's decline include dams, the development of the rivers for navigation, altered river flows, gravel-mining operations, general habitat degradation from land use practices, and, perhaps, overfishing (particularly at the turn of the century). The Service finds there to be insufficient information to justify listing a species that may no longer exist.