Environmental regulations that are designed to protect fish species at times trigger restrictions on pumping at the state and federal facilities that draw water from the delta.

Sturgeon are distinguished by their shark-like, torpedo-shaped bodies and rows of bony plates called scutes within their skin. They have been called living fossils because their ancestors swam in rivers and estuaries 200 million years ago, and they survived the mass extinction that doomed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Because of their long lives, the giant fish are also called “the redwoods of the bay.”

In the late 1800s, California had a commercial fishery for white sturgeon, but the population soon crashed and the fishery was shut down in the early 20th century.

In 1954, the state opened a recreational fishery for white sturgeon.

Boaters have continued to catch the fish legally under state regulations, which until recently allowed a limited catch of fish 40 to 60 inches long.

Others have turned to illegal fishing for the prized sturgeon roe, selling the caviar for profit. In recent years, some poaching investigations by state officials have led to arrests.

According to state estimates, the population of white sturgeon that are of a size to be legally caught has declined from between 150,000 and 200,000 in the 1980s to the most recent five-year average of 33,000 fish.

That estimate, however, does not account for losses during an algal bloom in San Francisco Bay in 2022, when white sturgeon were among large numbers of fish that died.

Biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will conduct the review of the species’ status. The process allows officials one year, but they may request a six-month extension to complete their analysis.

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