The “2026 Joint Staff Report Concerning Stock Status and Fisheries for White Sturgeon” makes for dreary reading. People who have moved here in recent years probably won’t know how treasured sturgeon are as premium food and as living symbols of ecosystem health. Recreational fishermen and their families and friends consider sturgeon to be royalty among fish, rivaling spring Chinook. Catch-and-release fisheries have been permitted — sturgeon are known as exciting fighting fish and apparently recover from these interactions. “Juvenile sturgeon abundance reached its lowest level on record in 2025, representing less than 23% of the population and remaining well below conservation thresholds, indicating severe recruitment concern.