With a target on their bellies, can California’s sturgeon survive?

Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using photographs submitted by the tipster. The fish was in the back of his vehicle, barely alive. The wardens quickly issued a citation and rushed the 165-centimeter (65-inch) ailing sturgeon to the nearby marina. For 90 minutes, they worked to revive the fish. They submerged it in the water and, crouching on the boat ramp, rocked the animal back and forth to run water through its gills and provide oxygen as if it were swimming. At last, the fish ral