The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is reminding sturgeon anglers to return their 2014 sturgeon fishing report cards as required by law.

Although the deadline to report their catch was Jan. 31, so far only about 9,000 (or 18 percent) of the 49,263 report cards sold have been returned.

The sport fishing regulations require that all sturgeon anglers return their Report Cards, even the sturgeon anglers who did not encounter sturgeon and who did not fish for white sturgeon.

Without the data gleaned from the late report cards, CDFW's scientific understanding of the white sturgeon and green sturgeon populations is incomplete.

This makes it harder for scientists to recognize possible overfishing of the diminished white sturgeon population and to document accidental catch of the threatened green sturgeon. In this case, addressing the uncertainty could mean new harvest restrictions.

“Anglers who return their cards are providing data that is otherwise unavailable and it's very good data.  They are also helping to protect the white sturgeon fishery and rebuild both sturgeon populations.  Anglers who do not return report cards are complicating those efforts,” said Marty Gingras, CDFW Sturgeon Program Manager. “We're asking anglers to send the information to us now, even though the deadline has passed. It's truly better late than never.”

Anglers can return the overdue report cards by mail to the address printed on the card or use the CDFW Web site at https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing-758846-harvest-reporting .

White sturgeon and green sturgeon are anadromous, meaning they move from the salt and brackish water to spawn in freshwater. They are both native California species and can live to be more than 100 years old.

California's white sturgeon and green sturgeon populations were substantially reduced by commercial fishing in the 19th century and the recreational and commercial sturgeon fisheries were (with minor exceptions) closed from 1901 through 1953.

Only recreational fishing for sturgeon has been allowed since 1954, and that fishery has become increasingly restricted over time in an effort to rebuild the populations and protect the fishery.