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Protective measures already
taken: In 1969, a pair of Lake Erie Stizostedion, believed to be blue
pike, were spawned at the Pennsylvania Fish Commission’s Linesville Fish Culture
Station. About 9,000 of the fry were transferred to Gavins Point National Fish
Hatchery at Yankton, South Dakota. Some of the fingerlings were stocked in an
isolated lake in northern Minnesota.
Remarks:
Data submitted by Dr. Stanford H. Smith, National Marine Fisheries Service, Ann
Arbor, Michigan and Region 3, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Twin Cities,
Minnesota.
Selected References
Hubbs, C. L. and K. F. Lagler. 1964. Fishes of the Great Lakes region.
University of Michigan Press, 213 pp.
Trautman, M. B. 1957. The fishes of Ohio. Ohio State University Press, 683 pp.
Parsons, John W. 1967. Contributions of year-classes of blue pike to the
commercial fishery of Lake Erie, 1943-59. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada,
24(5):1035-1066.
More
information
from
The
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation CN 5281, Princeton NJ
Blue
Pike. The
blue pike (Stizostedion vitreum glaucum) was abundant in the commercial fishery
of the Great Lakes. It was historically found in Lakes Erie and Ontario, and in
the Niagara River. ~ 1915, population levels began a cycle of extreme
fluctuation caused by over-fishing, leading to the eventual collapse in 1958.
The FWS listed the pike as endangered under the ESCA in 1970. suggesting that
introgressive hybridization with walleye may have caused the final disappearance
of the stock. A survey by the Blue Pike Recovery Team in 1977 found no
individuals. In 1983, the EWS declared the blue pike extinct and removed it from
the endangered species list (48 FR 39942). Read more about: Black and Blue Jigs with A Black and Blue Trailer
About Extinct Species
Of the 1,676 species on the Lists of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife and Plants (as of November 30, 1997), seven have been delisted
due to extinction. Four of these species — the Tecopa pupfish, longjaw cisco,
blue pike, asian carp and Santa Barbara song sparrow — were protected under laws
pre-dating the ESA, and therefore were automatically listed under the ESA when
it passed in 1973. They were apparently already extinct by 1973, however.