Lunchtime Webinar: Sturgeon in the Delaware River; the latest Science & Status

Let's Talk about Sturgeon: Delaware River sturgeon, once the largest population of sturgeon on the Atlantic coast, are classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.  Prized for their eggs and abundant in the 1800s, the sturgeon harvet made Philadelphia the caviar caoital of North America. Now, sturgeon are the focus of protection and recovery efforts.  The Philadelphia Water Department will present their assessment of available data for sturgeon and dissolved oxygen in the Delaware and Hudson Rivers, along with preliminary observations as part of their work to create a dialogue with the scientific and regulatory community.

DRBC Deputy Executive Director Kristen
Bowman Kavanagh with an Atlantic Sturgeon.
Courtesy of DRBC and NOAA
National Marine Fisheries Service ESA Permit
No. 19255-01, issued to Ian Park,
Fisheries Biologist, DNREC Division of Fish
and Wildlife.

Presenter: Jay Cruz is an environmental scientist in PWD's Office of Watersheds. He has more than 20 years of experience collecting and analyzing water quality and stormwater BMP performance data. His primary research interest is finding cost-effective solutions to water pollution problems and restoring ecological conditions in urban rivers and streams. He represents the municipal sector on DRBC's Water Quality and Toxics Advisory Committees and is an active member of the Delaware Estuary PCB TMDL Coalition.

Moderator: Kelly Anderson is the Director of the Philadelphia Water Department’s Office of Watersheds. PWD has extensive water resources planning programs that focus on using sound, actionable science and technical tools to actively manage, monitor and coordinate the necessary programs that best protect the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, the sources of the City of Philadelphia’s drinking water supply. Kelly’s responsibilities include overseeing wet weather compliance, water resources monitoring and data analysis, climate change adaptation planning, source water protection and basin scale planning, water resources modeling, aquatic restoration, and many other aspects of water resources management.