SCOTLAND/UK

Nicola Sturgeon reacts as Supreme Court blocks indyref2


By Laura Webster@LauraEWebsterr

News and Features Editor


Nicola Sturgeon shared a thread after the news came out (Image: PA)

NICOLA Sturgeon has shared her reaction as the Supreme Court decided Scotland doesn’t have the power to hold an independence referendum without the UK’s permission.

The First Minister said she was “disappointed” by the verdict after judges ruled on Wednesday morning.

The SNP chief argued that the court’s finding helps to “expose [the] myth” of the UK as a voluntary partnership.

“While disappointed by it I respect ruling of @UKSupremeCourt - it doesn't make law, only interprets it,” she wrote.

READ MORE: LIVE: Updates as Supreme Court BLOCKS Scottish independence referendum

“A law that doesn't allow Scotland to choose our own future without Westminster consent exposes as myth any notion of the UK as a voluntary partnership & makes case for indy.”

"Scottish democracy will not be denied," she went on. "Today’s ruling blocks one route to Scotland’s voice being heard on independence - but in a democracy our voice cannot and will not be silenced."

The First Minister had been hoping to hold indyref2 on October 19, 2023, if the court found the Parliament could move forward with it legally.

She made clear ahead of the judges' unanimous verdict that if they ruled it out, the next General Election would be used as a de-facto referendum on Scottish independence.

Speaking later at a press conference in Edinburgh, Sturgeon revealed that her party would be holding an emergency conference in the new year to establish how that de-facto referendum would work.

The party will also be launching a campaign on Scottish democracy, she said.

Sturgeon told journalists: “I’m well aware that there will be a real sense of frustration today, in both the SNP and in the wider movement.

Nicola Sturgeon at a press conference in Edinburgh (Image: PA)

“I share that. My message though is this: while that is understandable, it must be short lived – and I believe it will be.

“Indeed, I suspect we will start to see just how short-lived in the strength of the gatherings planned for later today in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland.”

She said the case of Scottish independence is “now essential” because of “what Westminster control means on a day-to-day basis now and for future generations”.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court concluded that “a lawful referendum” on independence would “undoubtedly be an important political event, even if its outcome had no immediate legal consequences, and even if the United Kingdom Government had not given any political commitment to act upon it”.

They continued: “A clear outcome, whichever way the question was answered, would possess the authority, in a constitution and political culture founded upon democracy, of a democratic expression of the view of the Scottish electorate.

READ MORE: FIFTEEN rallies to mobilise Yes movement in response to Supreme Court

“The clear expression of its wish either to remain within the United Kingdom or to pursue secession would strengthen or weaken the democratic legitimacy of the Union, depending on which view prevailed, and support or undermine the democratic credentials of the independence movement.

“It would consequently have important political consequences relating to the Union and the United Kingdom Parliament.”

SNP to make UK general election 'de facto' referendum on independence following Supreme Court defeat

Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed her government's Plan B following their Supreme Court defeat will be to focus on independence at the next general election.

Chris McCall

Deputy Political Editor

 23 NOV 2022

NICOLA STURGEON: INDEPENDENCE ESSENTIAL FOR SCOTLAND TO ESCAPE 'DISASTER' OF BREXIT

The SNP will attempt to turn the next general election into a "de facto" referendum on Scottish independence after its original plan was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Nicola Sturgeon said a special party conference would be held in the New Year to determine the details of its campaign ahead of the next Westminster poll, which is expected to take place in 2024.

The First Minister held a press conference in Edinburgh today just hours after judges in London ruled the Scottish Parliament lacked the legal powers required to hold a referendum without the approval of the UK Government.

Sturgeon insisted her party was not abandoning the independence route but rather Westminster was "blocking it".

And the SNP leader claimed a "de facto" referendum was now the most obvious choice for a lawful vote on independence.

She said: "In my view, that can only be an election. The next national election scheduled for Scotland is, of course, the UK general election.

"Making that both the first and the most obvious opportunity to seek what I described as a ‘de facto’ referendum.”

Sturgeon continued: "Now that the Supreme Court’s ruling is known and de facto referendum is no longer hypothetical, it is necessary to agree the precise detail of the proposition we intend to put before the country,” Ms Sturgeon said.

She added: "Given the magnitude of these decisions for the SNP, the process of reaching them is one the party as a whole must be fully and actively involved in.

"I can therefore confirm that I will be asking our National Executive Committee to convene a special party conference in the new year to discuss and agree the detail of a proposed ‘de facto referendum’.

"In the meantime, the SNP will launch and mobilise a major campaign in defence of Scottish democracy because we should be in no doubt that, as of today, democracy is what’s at stake."

Speaking at PMQs, Rishi Sunak insisted "the people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges that we collectively face"

SCOTTISH POLITICS

The Prime Minister told MPs: "We respect the clear and definitive ruling from the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.”

"The people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges that we collectively face, whether that’s the economy, supporting the NHS or indeed supporting Ukraine.

"Now is the time for politicians to work together and that’s what this Government will do."

The UK Government does not agree with Nicola Sturgeon’s proposal to use the next election as a de facto referendum, Downing Street has said.

Asked whether the Prime Minister agreed with the plan, his press secretary told reporters: "I don’t think that is the position of the UK Government.

"The Supreme Court’s decision today has been very clear."

She added that it was a “matter for Holyrood” and declined to comment on “constitutional arrangements”.

Supreme Court rules against government

Nicola Sturgeon speech in full as First Minister reacts

to Supreme Court verdict

Nicola Sturgeon urged to focus on 'issues that matter' after Supreme Court loss

Alex Salmond slams Nicola Sturgeon over 'bad gamble that has not paid off' after Supreme Court ruling

Scottish independence supporters plan rallies across the country after Supreme Court verdict

Atlantic sturgeon in the King’s pantry – unique discovery in Baltic Sea wreck from 1495

Wooden barrel with parts of the sturgeon (in orange) Photo: Brett Seymour

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden can now reveal what the Danish King Hans had planned to offer when laying claim to the Swedish throne in 1495: a two-metre-long Atlantic sturgeon. The well-preserved fish remains were found in a wreck on the bottom of the Baltic Sea last year, and species identification was made possible through DNA analysis.

At midsummer in 1495, the Danish King Hans was en route from Copenhagen to Kalmar, Sweden, on the royal flagship Gribshunden. Onboard were the most prestigious goods the Danish royal court could provide, but then, the trip was also very important. King Hans was going to meet Sten Sture the Elder (he hoped) to lay claim to the Swedish throne. It was important to demonstrate both power and grandeur.

However, when the ship was level with Ronneby in Blekinge, which was Danish territory at the time, a fire broke out on board and Gribshunden sank. The King himself was not on board that night, however, both crew and cargo sank with the ship to the sea floor, where it has lain ever since.

Thanks to the unique environment of the Baltic Sea – with oxygen-free seabeds, low salinity and an absence of shipworms – the wreck was particularly well preserved when it was discovered approximately fifty years ago, and has provided researchers with a unique insight into life on board a royal ship in the late Middle Ages. In addition, researchers now also know what was in the royal pantry – the wooden barrel discovered last year, with fish remains inside.

Bones and scutes from the 500-year old sturgeon (Photo: Brendan Foley)

“It is a really thrilling discovery, as you do not ordinarily find fish in a barrel in this way. For me, as an osteologist, it has been very exciting to work with”, says Stella Macheridis, researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University.

When the remains were discovered it was possible to see that they came from a sturgeon pretty early on due to the special bony plates, the scutes. However, researchers were unsure which species it was. Up until relatively recently, it was believed to be the European sturgeon found in the Baltic Sea at the time. However, the DNA analysis revealed it was the Atlantic variety with which King Hans planned on impressing the Swedes. Researchers have also been able to estimate the length of the sturgeon – two metres – as well as demonstrate how it was cut.

For Maria C Hansson, molecular biologist at Lund University, and the researcher who carried out the DNA analysis, the discovery is of major significance, particularly for her own research on the environment of the Baltic Sea.

“For me, this has been a glimpse of what the Baltic Sea looked like before we interfered with it. Now we know that the Atlantic sturgeon was presumably part of the ecosystem. I think there could be great potential in using underwater DNA in this way to be able to recreate what it looked like previously”, she says.

The Atlantic sturgeon is currently an endangered species and virtually extinct.

Diver examines the wooden barrel (Photo: Brett Seymour)

The discovery on Gribshunden is unique in both the Scandinavian and European contexts –such well preserved and old sturgeon remains have only been discovered a few times at an underwater archaeological site.

It is now possible, in a very specific way, to link the sturgeon to a royal environment – the discovery confirms the high status it had at the time. The fish was coveted for its roe, flesh and swim bladder – the latter could be used to produce a kind of glue (isinglass) that, among other things, was used to produce gold paint.

“The sturgeon in the King’s pantry was a propaganda tool, as was the entire ship. Everything on that ship served a political function, which is another element that makes this discovery particularly interesting. It provides us with important information about this pivotal moment for nation-building in Europe, as politics, religion and economics – indeed, everything – was changing”, says Brendan P. Foley, marine archaeologist at Lund University, and project coordinator for the excavations.

Gribshunden will become the subject of further archaeological excavations and scientific analyses in the coming years.

The research was made possible through a grant from the Crafoord Foundation in Sweden and the Swordspoint Foundation in the USA as well as from Jane and James Orr, Jr. in the USA.

Link to the publication in Journal or Archaeological Science: Reports - Fish in a barrel: Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) from the Baltic Sea wreck of the royal Danish flagship Gribshunden (1495)

FOSSIL FISH=FRESH LAKE MONSTER

Huge 100-year-old Sturgeon Caught by Newbie Fishermen, Thrown Back in River

Jessica Thomson - Yesterday 

© Steve Ecklund / River Monster Adventures

The fishermen with the huge fish (left), and the fish jumping out of the water as they fought to reel it in (right).

A gargantuan white sturgeon that is over ten feet long and estimated to be at least 100-years-old has been caught by fishermen in British Columbia.

Novice fishermen Steve Ecklund and Mark Boise went on a fishing trip near Lillooet, B.C., with guides from River Monster Adventures, Nick McCabe and Tyler Speed, on Father's Day, when they caught the enormous fish.

The sturgeon put up a big fight: it took two hours to wrestle it into the boat, with videos showing the beast leaping out of the water, revealing its true size.

White sturgeon are the largest freshwater fish in North America, growing up to 14 ft long, and weighing up to 1,500 lbs. According to the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, white sturgeons can also live for over 150 years.

This sturgeon had not been previously tagged, leading River Monster Adventures to suspect that this may have been the first time it had been caught, which considering its age, is surprising.

Ecklund said that the sturgeon measured 10 feet and one inch long, and had a girth of 57 inches.

"Our last fish of the day ends up being the largest sturgeon caught in the company's history!" he said in a Facebook post. "This beast would definitely push 700lbs and be north of 100 years old."

Commenting on the post, River Monster Adventures wrote: "We are lost for words what a true dinosaur."

The guides scoured the river using sonar equipment to help the fishermen find the biggest catch they could. Once caught and photographed, the behemoth fish was released back into the river, as has been the rule in British Columbia for the past 25 years. Violation of this law can result in hefty fines.

Despite being able to release up to three million eggs per spawn, sturgeons only spawn every few years, meaning that they cannot easily recover their populations in the face of threats.

Sturgeon populations are in decline in parts of British Columbia, and in other habitats within its range, like California. California has occasionally seen over five consecutive years of very low population growth from spawns. The population decline may be due to destruction of habitats important to spawning, and impacts of reduced food supply.

Poaching of the sturgeons is also a problem, as the eggs of sturgeons are in fact caviar, which can sell on the black market for between $100 and $150 per lb.

In 2003, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada classified all populations of white sturgeon in Canada "endangered," with the exception of the Lower Fraser river population, which is now instead considered threatened.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FOSSIL FISH 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON 

Cryptozoology Part 2: plawiuk — LiveJournal

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON FOSSIL FISH

Evolution of Vertebrate Armor: How Fish Evolved Their Protective Bony Scales

By CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (CALTECH) SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Dorsal scutes of sterlet sturgeon. A recent study discovered that a specific type of stem cell, the trunk neural crest cell, is responsible for the development of bony protective scales (scutes) in fish. This breakthrough reveals how our soft-bodied evolutionary ancestors developed protective armor, paving the way for the evolution of a multitude of vertebrate species. Credit: Courtesy of J. Stundl

A Caltech study identified trunk neural crest cells as the origin of protective bony scales in fish, shedding light on the evolution of vertebrate armor.

About 350 million years ago, your evolutionary ancestors—and the ancestors of all modern vertebrates—were merely soft-bodied animals living in the oceans. In order to survive and evolve to become what we are today, these animals needed to gain some protection and advantage over the ocean’s predators, which were then dominated by crustaceans.

The evolution of dermal armor, like the sharp spines found on an armored catfish or the bony diamond-shaped scales, called scutes, covering a sturgeon, was a successful strategy. Thousands of species of fish utilized varying patterns of dermal armor, composed of bone and/or a substance called dentine, an important component of modern human teeth. Protective coatings like these helped vertebrates survive and evolve further into new animals and ultimately humans.

But where did this armor come from? How did our ancient underwater ancestors evolve to grow this protective coat?

Now, using sturgeon fish, a new study finds that a specific population of stem cells, called trunk neural crest cells, are responsible for the development of bony scutes in fish. The work was conducted by Jan Stundl, now a Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Marianne Bronner, the Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech. A paper describing the research was published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Jan Stundl holds a sturgeon fish in the laboratory. Credit: Courtesy of J. Stund

The Bronner laboratory has long been interested in studying neural crest cells. Found in all vertebrates including fish, chickens, and ourselves, these cells become specialized based on whether they arise from the head (cranial) or spinal cord (trunk) regions. Both cranial and trunk neural crest cells migrate from their starting points throughout the animal’s developing body, giving rise to the cells that make up the jaws, heart, and other important structures. After a 2017 study from the University of Cambridge showed that trunk neural crest cells give rise to dentine-based dermal armor in a type of fish called the little skate, Stundl and his colleagues hypothesized that the same population of cells might also give rise to bone-based armor in vertebrates broadly.

A reconstruction of a single sturgeon scute, close up. Bone-forming cells are marked in magenta. Credit: Courtesy of J. Stundl

To study this, Stundl and the team turned to the sturgeon fish, specifically the sterlet sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus). Modern sturgeons, best known for their production of the world’s most expensive caviar, still have many of the same characteristics as their ancestors from millions of years ago. This makes them prime candidates for evolutionary studies.

Using sturgeon embryos grown at the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology in the Czech Republic, Stundl and his team used fluorescent dye to track how the fish’s trunk neural crest cells migrated throughout its developing body. Sturgeons begin to develop their bony scutes after a couple of weeks, so the researchers kept the growing fish in a darkened lab in order to not disturb the fluorescent dye with light.

The team found fluorescently labeled trunk neural crest cells in the exact locations where the sturgeon’s bony scutes were forming. They then used a different technique to highlight the fish’s osteoblasts, a type of cell that forms bone. Genetic signatures associated with osteoblast differentiation were found in the fluorescent cells in the fish’s developing scutes, providing strong evidence that the trunk neural crest cells do in fact give rise to bone-forming cells. Combined with the 2017 findings about neural crest cells’ role in forming dentine-based armor, the work shows that trunk neural crest cells are indeed responsible for giving rise to the bony dermal armor that enabled the evolutionary success of vertebrate fish.

“Working with non-model organisms is tricky; the tools that exist in standard lab organisms like mouse or zebrafish either do not work or need to be significantly adapted,” says Stundl. “Despite these challenges, information from non-model organisms like sturgeon allows us to answer fundamental evolutionary developmental biology questions in a rigorous manner.”

“By studying many animals on the Tree of Life, we can infer what evolutionary events have taken place,” says Bronner. “This is particularly powerful if we can approach evolutionary questions from a developmental biology perspective, since many changes that led to diverse cell types occurred via small alterations in embryonic development. We were very fortunate to receive funding from Caltech’s Center for Evolutionary Sciences, which helped us make studies of this sort possible.”

Caltech’s Center for Evolutionary Science (CES) is an Institute-wide, multi-division organization that recognizes and supports the investigation of evolutionary change in the natural world via both biotic and anthropogenic forces.

“Evolution is a central theme that runs through all of biology; it unifies our discipline,” says Joe Parker, Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chen Scholar, and co-director of the CES. “Caltech is an incredible place with so many groups pursuing evolutionary problems in different contexts, including at the interface of evolution and development biology—as this study so beautifully shows.”

The paper is titled “Ancient vertebrate dermal armor evolved from trunk neural crest” by Jan Stundl, Megan L. Martik, Donglei Chen, Desingu Ayyappa Raja, Roman Franěk, Anna Pospisilova, Martin Pšenička, Brian D. Metscher, Ingo Braasch, Tatjana Haitina, Robert Cerny, Per E. Ahlberg and Marianne E. Bronner, 17 July 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221120120

In addition to Bronner and Stundl, Caltech co-authors are former postdoctoral scholar Megan Martik, now at the University of California Berkeley, and postdoctoral scholar Desingu Ayyappa Raja. Additional co-authors are Donglei Chen, Tatjana Haitina, and Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden; Roman Franěk and Martin Pšenička of the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic; Anna Pospisilova and Robert Cerny of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; Brian Metscher of the University of Vienna in Austria; and Ingo Braasch of Michigan State University. Funding was provided by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program; the National Institutes of Health; a Wallenberg Scholarship from the Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation; the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic; the Czech Science Foundation; and the National Science Foundation.

Bronner and Parker are affiliated faculty members with the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.

Sturgeon Lake First Nation marks birth of baby boy, celebrated as first traditional birth in decades

Sun., February 27, 2022

Norma Rabbitskin, a senior health nurse in Sturgeon Lake First Nation, Saskatchewan, says her daughter and grandson, pictured here, were both part of ceremonies and cultural practices leading up to the boy's birth on Wednesday.

 (Submitted by Norma Rabbitskin - image credit)

For the first time in decades, some in Sturgeon Lake First Nation, Sask., feel they've truly welcomed a baby into this world on their own terms.

The First Nation, located about 40 kilometres west of Prince Albert in central Saskatchewan, is one of three participating in a pilot project to bring cultural birthing back to First Nation communities in Canada.

On Wednesday a baby boy was born, welcomed in ceremony and with the First Nations traditional birth practices top of mind.

"A lot of those things were never lost," Christine Longjohn, the First Nation's band councillor responsible for health, said.

"We just weren't practicing them the way we should have, because of all of what First Nations people have gone through."

Help was drawn from elders, knowledge keepers, birth experts, midwives and health professionals both within and outside of Sturgeon Lake to create the community's soon-to-be cultural birthing centre and and revitalize the practices in the community.

Bighead said Wednesday's birth was a great day for Sturgeon Lake.

"We are rebuilding our nation, is actually what we are doing, because when we have healthy babies, healthy children, then we will have a healthy community," she said.

Though a proper birthing facility won't be built until the fall of 2022 at the earliest, the concept design for a new facility is expected to be unveiled in mid-March.

Norma Rabbitskin, a senior nurse in Sturgeon Lake — whose daughter gave birth on Wednesday — said knowledge shared by elders and knowledge keepers with the First Nation is being shared with the professionals supporting pregnant mothers in Sturgeon Lake.

Those professionals put that knowledge to use on Wednesday and will continue to do so going forward.

Soon, they will have a facility of their own to work in, too. In mid-March the First Nation will unveil the concept designs for the birthing facility it would like to see operating by this fall, if things go smoothly, Longjohn said.

Reclaiming a sacred right

Rabbitskin, who said she and her mother were born on the lands, said it was an honour to see her daughter choose a traditional path when it comes to birth — a way, she said, her daughter was practicing one of her most sacred rights.

"It really feels so sacred and I'm really just flying high," she told CBC News on Thursday.

"I'm sure my ancestors are rejoicing, [because] they are happy to participate all the way though the ceremonies because we were advising and we were acting for their guidance for this little one who is coming down from the spirit realm."

Pipe ceremonies, naming ceremonies and songs associated with those ceremonies are among the traditions and teachings passed down through generations associated with birth in Sturgeon Lake, Rabbitskin said.

Those deemed a low-risk pregnancy, she said, who have shown they're willing to commit to practicing the traditions and ceremonies related to birth are invited to partake in the First Nation's birthing strategy.

It's all based on choices though, Rabbitskin said and those who don't want to participate don't have to and can go for a more contemporary approach to birth if they choose.

For some, a more traditional birth is seen as a more welcoming way to bring new life into the world. Longjohn said her own mother was forced to isolate with her as a newborn years ago because she wasn't born in the hospital.

That experience, Longjohn said would be traumatizing for some and is part of what the birthing centre in Sturgeon Lake is hoping to combat.

The work being done in Sturgeon Lake, embraced Treaty Six's medicine chest clause, Bighead said, which has been interpreted to make it so First Nations people have a right to health care, be it through western medicine or traditional medicine.

"I believe, [the medicine chest clause] is why the federal government is forthcoming with the financial and moral support for our undertaking," she said.

Part of a growing history

The Sturgeon Lake First Nation birthing centre and traditional practices around birth are part of the First Nation's efforts to reclaim its health care, rooted in its own culture Rabbitskin said.

The birthing centre and the practices that will be taught through it are part of the First Nation's overall strategy looking at holistic health.

Bighead said in 1995, Sturgeon Lake First Nation's governance transferred control of first-level services, like health care, from what was then the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Through doing that the First Nation developed its own westernized model of health care, Bighead said. That includes legislation that allows for traditional midwifery and other practices related to birthing, allowing for the community to practice its cultural ways when it comes to health care and births.

"At that time we talked about the fact that we are First Nations; that we did not just want to be like any medical clinic, walk-in clinic, whatever you may have, we also wanted to have the opportunity to deliver traditional health services to those membership that wish to participate," she said.

"This is the first very important step and one of many in this fantastic, awesome journey that we are on."

First ever sturgeon to be found in Africa

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

 

VIDEO: FIRST EVER STURGEON TO BE FOUND IN AFRICA view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

A fossil of a ‘royal fish’ - estimated to be over 66 million years old - is the first ever to be found in Africa. 

Sturgeon have historically been found in the cooler waters of the Northern Hemisphere, excluding Africa, but this specimen was discovered in Morocco by a University of Portsmouth palaeontologist. 

The discovery of this fossil in Africa is particularly significant because it is the first of its kind to be found on the continent, suggesting that sturgeons were once more widespread than previously thought.

Professor David Martill noticed the fossil when he was visiting a well-known Moroccan fossil site during a field trip last November. He said: “I found a piece of rock with bucklers, the bony external plates found on these heavily armoured fish, and I knew straight away it was a sturgeon.

“It was a surprising discovery because all sturgeon species have been exclusively found in the Northern Hemisphere in the past. They’ve been located in North America, Europe, Russian Asia, Chinese Asia, but never in South America, Australia, Africa or India, which are the land masses that made up Gondwana, a supercontinent that existed around 336 million years ago and began breaking up around 150 million years ago.”

Sturgeons have long been valued for their meat and row, which are eaten as caviar. But as a result of overfishing, along with habitat loss, many species are critically endangered. And several are on the verge of extinction in the wild.

Professor Martill said: “Russian beluga caviar is one of the most expensive in the world. Little did we know that at one time an extremely rare African sturgeon could have been a source of this delicacy!”

Sturgeon are often regarded as a living fossil because their ancestors date back to the same time that dinosaurs roamed, over 200 million years ago. They can grow up to seven metres in length and reach a weight of 1.5 tonnes, although such sizes are exceedingly rare today.

In 1324 King Edward II declared them to be royal fish and any found in the waters around England and Wales are technically still owned by the British monarchy, along with whales and dolphins. 

Professor Martill added: “The very first sturgeons appear in the fossil record in the late Triassic period in China. But the oldest true sturgeon ever discovered is probably a specimen in the Steve Etches collection from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast in England, which is mentioned in a book Steve and I wrote about fossils in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. 

“This new Moroccan species complicates models of the location of the origin of this important group of fish that is typically so widespread in the Northern Hemisphere.”

The specimen is now in the collection of the University King Hassan II, Casablanca. The paper is published in Cretaceous Research.

ENDS 

---

JOURNAL

Cretaceous Research

DOI

10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105546 

ARTICLE TITLE

A sturgeon (Actinopterygii, Acipenseriformes) from the Upper Cretaceous of Africa

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FOSSIL FISH 

What to know about Scottish National Party police probe after Nicola Sturgeon questioned

POLITICO unpacks investigation into pro-Scottish independence party’s funding following questioning of former leader.

Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

BY ANDREW MCDONALD
JUNE 11, 2023 

Nicola Sturgeon was released without charge pending further investigation Sunday night after being questioned by police probing the finances of the Scottish National Party she once led.

The arrest of Scotland’s former first minister marked the latest dramatic twist in a story which has dominated Scottish politics for months and plunged the pro-independence party into bitter infighting.

Here’s POLITICO’s guide to the investigation so far.

What is the investigation about?

To answer that, we have to go back to early 2017, and the fight for Scottish independence.

The Sturgeon-led SNP were in fine fettle — with senior party figures believing Brexit, which was opposed by a majority of Scottish voters in 2016, gave them cause to pursue a fresh referendum on breaking up the United Kingdom.

In that spirit, the SNP opened a new channel for donations to help drive their campaign for a new vote.

Around £482,000 was raised in just a couple of months. But Westminster’s own wild politics intervened, as Theresa May rolled the dice and called a snap election. While May herself was burned badly, the SNP lost 21 Westminster seats in that vote, a disappointing reversal for a party that had hoped to seize on Scottish anger at Brexit.

The party dropped the second referendum fundraising campaign just three months after it began — and stopped accepting donations. The SNP said the money would be “ring-fenced” for fighting a future referendum and that it would not be used to pay for their election campaign.

Another donation portal for a second referendum was then launched in 2019. Donations to this and the initial appeal would eventually total £666,953 — a number that would come up again and again in the coming years.

Despite repeated calls from SNP activists and independence supporters for a referendum, it has yet to materialize, with the party split on a strategy for achieving its biggest prize. And those who donated their hard-earned cash started to wonder what it was being spent on.

When the Electoral Commission watchdog published the SNP’s accounts for 2019, in 2020, they revealed that the party had just under £97,000 in the bank despite the “ring-fenced” fundraising. The SNP’s treasurer, Colin Beattie, promptly wrote to all donors, saying the funds “remain earmarked” for a referendum and were “woven through” the accounts.

The next year would see multiple high-profile resignations from the SNP’s officer ranks over what they claimed was a lack of transparency — including the resignation of Douglas Chapman, a member of parliament who had replaced Beattie as treasurer. Chapman said he wasn’t given enough information by the party to do his job.

For four days after Chapman quit, Sturgeon herself became interim treasurer. She would be replaced by the returning Beattie.
When did the police get involved?

Remember the name Sean Clerkin. He may just go down in history.

A serial protester whose previous claim to fame was chasing a beleaguered Scottish Labour leader into a sandwich shop, Clerkin made the initial complaint to Police Scotland about the use of donations.

After six more complaints, the police launched a formal investigation in July 2021.

Operation Branchform, as cops called it, was live.

Officers only began interviews with witnesses in 2023, after more than a year of evidence-gathering and research.

In the meantime, other details came to light which raised further questions for SNP top brass.

In December 2022, the Wings Over Scotland blog — run by a critic of the SNP under Sturgeon — revealed details of a loan the party’s then-chief executive Peter Murrell made to the SNP in 2021.

Murrell — who is Sturgeon’s husband — loaned, interest-free, £107,620 of his own cash to the SNP around six weeks after the 2021 Scottish parliament election.

Confirming the loan, which was declared late to the Electoral Commission, the SNP said it was a “personal contribution” to assist with “cashflow.” The SNP is yet to repay the loan in full.
Who has been arrested?

2023 has seen a flurry of dramatic developments in Scottish politics.

Sturgeon sent shockwaves in February when she announced her resignation as first minister and SNP leader at a hastily-arranged press conference in Edinburgh.

Citing the personal toll of the job and a desire to “free” her party — which still heads up Scotland’s devolved government — to pick its own independence strategy, Sturgeon said it had been a “privilege beyond measure” to serve.

It fired the starting pistol on a bitter race to replace her as SNP leader and first minister (Humza Yousaf won that one, by the way). But the real news was elsewhere.

On April 5 this year, Murrell — who was deposed as chief executive during the SNP’s leadership contest — was arrested in connection with the police probe.

Police Scotland confirmed they were conducting searches at a number of addresses, including Murrell and Sturgeon’s home in Glasgow and the SNP’s head office in Edinburgh.

Murrell was released without charge pending further investigation.

Just under two weeks later, Beattie — the SNP’s treasurer, remember — was arrested in connection with the investigation. He was also released without charge pending further investigation. The next day, he resigned his post as the man overseeing the SNP’s finances.

In-between those two arrests, the police also seized a luxury camper-van from outside the home of 92-year-old Margaret Murrell, Peter’s mother. It marked one of the more surreal moments of a genuinely jaw-dropping saga that has put Yousaf on the backfoot as he tries to lead the SNP through the crisis.

Then came Sturgeon’s arrest.

Police Scotland said Sunday that the former first minister had been “arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.” According to the force, Sturgeon was questioned by detectives after being arrested at 10:09 a.m. Sunday, and was released from custody at 5:24 p.m. without charge, “pending further investigation.”

Sturgeon said in a statement Sunday night: “Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.”

Ukraine war will not delay Scottish independence referendum, says Nicola Sturgeon

The war in Ukraine will not delay a second Scottish independence referendum, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has vowed.

By Jane Bradley
Monday, 2nd May 2022, 

Ms Sturgeon said she had “not changed her position” on when a referendum would be held, despite fears the conflict in Ukraine could continue well into next year. The First Minister has insisted she still sees 2023 as a realistic date for a new vote.

“I’ve not changed my position on the timescale we won the mandate for in the election last year,” she told The Guardian.

Ms Sturgeon also reiterated her party’s stance on Nato membership, saying she would like to see an independent Scotland be a "non-nuclear member” of the alliance. The issue has been divisive in the SNP, which changed its stance in 2012, sparking the resignation of three MSPs.

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon (left) poses for selfies during a visit to Portobello, Edinburgh, while on the local election campaign trail. 

Picture: Lesley Martin/PA Wire

In Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky said the evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where more than 1,000 civilians have been sheltering, had begun. Meanwhile, the head of the military administration in Kharkiv said four districts have been re-captured from the Russians.

Questions have been raised as to how Scotland’s anti-Trident stance will be perceived in a time of conflict with nuclear power Russia.

Ms Sturgeon told Sophy Ridge’s Sky News on Sunday: "I would want to see an independent Scotland be a non-nuclear member of Nato. Remember, the vast majority of countries in the world don't have nuclear weapons and I think we're right now being reminded of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.”

Ms Sturgeon said Scotland’s “strategically important position” in the North Atlantic would give it strength as part of the alliance.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a visit to Portobello, 

Edinburgh, while on the local election campaign trail.

She said: "I would want an independent Scotland to be a constructive and participating member of Nato. And I think one of the big questions for my party – indeed, for those who support an independent Scotland – is to think in this new world order that we're living in, post the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where many of the things we've taken for granted in the post Cold War era have been turned on their head, we need to consider what would an independent Scotland bring to that Nato alliance?

“The question of Nato membership is not always the one that unifies everybody in the SNP, but I think in the world we're living in, it's very important to recognise that would be vital for the security of an independent Scotland and we would have a duty to play our part in that broader security arrangement.”

Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has previously said Scotland would have to reapply to join the alliance if it left the UK.


Legal advice on Scottish independence referendum to be released after transparen...

A European Leadership Network paper written last year by John Gower, a rear admiral at the time of the 2014 independence referendum, warned “joining the nuclear alliance Nato on a political non-nuclear platform would be at best exceedingly difficult”.

Ms Sturgeon’s comments came as the UK Green Party said it would seek to move the UK out of Nato in the long term once the conflict in Ukraine was over.

Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said he did not want to “change structures in the middle of a conflict”, but believed the UK should leave the military alliance in the future.

He said: “We have a long-term policy about reviewing what structures we need to have to build peace in the world and we have to remember this conflict has happened at a time when we are part of Nato, when we are still seeing nuclear weapons dominate.


“Of course we are not about changing structures in the middle of conflict and what we need to do at the moment is focus on how Ukraine can be supported in a wide variety of ways.”

Asked to confirm again the Greens want the UK to leave Nato, Mr Ramsay added: “Yes, that is our long-term policy that we would like to see far greater focus on peacekeeping institutions and institutions that support a reduction in our nuclear weapons and countries moving away from nuclear weapons.”

The UK Government has said plans for new nuclear power stations will not be "imposed" on Scotland.

Boris Johnson’s strategy includes plans to increase nuclear, wind, solar and hydrogen, with eight nuclear reactors – the equivalent of one a year – to be delivered by the end of this decade at existing sites down south.

Ms Sturgeon said last month she believed it would be “realistic” to hold a second independence referendum next year and said “the work is underway”.

Three meetings were held at the end of last year and the beginning of this year to discuss the “approach to the development and delivery” of new independence white papers. Deputy First Minister John Swinney and constitution secretary Angus Robertson also attended the meetings alongside civil servants and advisers.

Ms Sturgeon has also refused to rule out court action after Scotland’s information commissioner ordered her Government to publish its legal advice on whether it would have the requisite powers to hold a second referendum without Westminster’s consent, following a 13-month Freedom of Information battle with The Scotsman.

In a ruling, Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry said the Government’s decisions during the Alex Salmond inquiry and the “obvious” and “significant” public interest around a second independence referendum meant parts of the legal advice should be released.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The Commissioner’s made his ruling, there’s now a June 10 deadline, any government is going to carefully consider all aspects of that and I’m not going to pre-empt that consideration.”

She added: “The question is not whether the Scottish Government will comply with the law. We will. The question is whether political opponents and actually democrats are willing to argue their case democratically and allow the people to decide”.

Polish fish farm fights 'myth of Russian caviar'

Issued on: 14/12/2022 

With Russian caviar banned by sanctions or boycotted by clients, producers elsewhere are battling the myth that the delicacy is still primarily Russian in origin 

© Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

Rus (Poland) (AFP) – With Moscow blacklisted since it invaded Ukraine, Europe's main producer of caviar wants to put an end, once and for all, to the delicacy's traditional association with Russia.

"For most people, caviar means Russia, but that hasn't been the case for a long time now," said Agata Lakomiak-Winnicka, marketing and sales manager for Poland's Antonius Caviar.

Based in the northeastern village of Rus, the company is one of the world's top makers of the luxury food, having produced 42 tonnes of black caviar last year -- more than any one firm in Italy or France and almost as much as those in China.

"We used to get clients who couldn't locate Poland on a map. Today we're on a whole different level," Lakomiak-Winnicka said.

The company exports mostly to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, France and Denmark and also supplies Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.

Retail prices range from 1,200 to 2,400 euros ($1,275-2,550) for sturgeon caviar and up to 8,000 euros for the albino kind.

The company's challenge now, one faced by producers worldwide, is the battle against "the myth of Russian caviar".

"Take any box of caviar that reads 'Russian tradition' or 'Russian method' and you'll see that 99 percent of the time it doesn't actually come from Russia," Lakomiak-Winnicka said.
Russia boycott

Traditionally, caviar was made from eggs from wild sturgeon in the Caspian and Black seas with the best-known producers in Russia and Iran.

But years of overfishing and pollution left the sturgeon at risk of extinction, and it is now a protected species.

Most caviar today is produced on fish farms and has nothing to do with Russia.

But consumers still associate the two -- a challenge for those who out of solidarity for Ukraine no longer want to buy Russian.

Most caviar is now farmed, with the sturgeon at Antonius Caviar's farms swim around in canals fed by the crystal clear water of a nearby river © Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

"Because of the war... clients ask about the provenance of the caviar," said Wiktoria Yerystova-Rostkowska, who owns a Russian shop outside Warsaw.

"They want good caviar but it can't be Russian," she told AFP, adding that she sources hers from Germany.

The EU and United States have banned Russian caviar as part of their sanctions against Moscow, but it was already practically impossible to buy due to restrictions to protect wild sturgeon.
Aquaculture

The green and black boxes of caviar are on display in the shop window.

Featuring a drawing of the fish, the label reads "malossol" -- the Russian for "lightly salted" and the name of the traditional method used to preserve caviar.

Yerystova-Rostkowska said the boycott of Russian products has left her struggling to stay open.

"It's no longer profitable. I'm down 80 percent in revenue," she said.

A mature female sturgeon can grow to more than a metre (three feet) in length 

© Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

Lakomiak-Winnicka for her part sees the boycott as an opportunity.

"It's a chance to explain that caviar no longer comes from Russia," she said.

It has been years since wild Russian caviar was available on the international market.

"The Caspian Sea no longer has any importance in caviar production," said Antonius head Marek Szczukowski.

"The vast majority of caviar sold around the world is derived from aquaculture," including in Russia, he added.
Sturgeon 'on vacation'

On the Antonius fish farm in Rus, thousands of sturgeon -- some more than a metre (three feet) in length -- swim around in canals fed by the crystal clear water of a nearby river.

The company initially farmed trout there, but because of climate change they switched to sturgeon, which prefer warmer water.

"The sturgeon are on vacation here, like they're in Hawaii," Szczukowski said.

The label reads: 'Proudly produced in Poland' to ensure clients know it doesn't come from Russia © Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

The caviar is harvested after the fish reach maturity, with the entire operation taking under 20 minutes.

Workers extract the caviar, wash and salt it, then box it up.

The label reads: "Proudly produced in Poland".

It used to also include the word "Russian" -- to denote the fish species -- but from now on it will just say "sturgeon caviar".

"At the express request of clients, we're changing the labels, leaving no room for doubt," Lakomiak-Winnicka said.

© 2022 AFP

Is it time to begin rewilding the seas?

A zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) off the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. A project to reintroduce this endangered species to West Papua begins in November. Photograph: imageBroker/

From giant clams to zebra shark, marine biologists want to replace lost and vanishing species at sea but face unique obstacles – not least rampant overfishing

Helen Scales

Sun 4 Jul 2021 

Kneeling on the seabed a few metres underwater, I pick up a clam and begin gently cleaning its furrowed, porcelain smile with a toothbrush. It’s a giant clam but a young one and still just a handful. Here in Fiji, giant clams or vasua as they are known, were so heavily overfished for their meat and shells that by the 1980s they were thought to be extinct locally. Australian clams were imported to start a captive breeding programme, and subsequent generations of their offspring have been released on coral reefs across Fiji. They’re still vulnerable to fishing and poaching, but if carefully guarded the giant clams do well and have become symbols of healthy corals reefs inside well-managed marine protected areas.

A key to their early survival is rearing them in cages to keep them safe from predators until they’re large enough to survive by themselves. However, the cages also exclude herbivorous fish, so the clams can easily get overgrown by seaweed, which is where the regular toothbrushing comes in.

Giant clam reintroduction is a relatively rare case of what on landmight be called rewilding. When it comes to putting back lost and vanishing species, be it Yellowstone wolves or British beavers, the underwater realm has been trailing behind its terrestrial counterparts. With no firm definition, initiatives to replant seagrass meadows and re-establish extinct oyster reefs arguably come under the rewilding umbrella. But the notion of returning large, charismatic animals to the ocean is only just beginning to catch on. There are lots of ideas, such as bringing back grey whales to the Atlantic, or Dalmatian pelicans to the UK, but so far only a few have actually been tried out. This reluctance comes down, in part, to a lack of captive-bred marine animals to release into the wild.

Guarding a giant clam that stays put is difficult enough; preventing other species from swimming straight into a fishing net is another matter

“There’s not a lot of them that are propagated or bred and successfully reared in human care,” says Julie Levans from Virginia Aquarium, about 150 miles south of Washington DC. “Unless you’re taking animals from one place and putting them in the other place in the ocean, you don’t really have that many options.”

For many aquatic animals, captive breeding and rewilding are just not going to happen. We’ll probably never see animals such as great white sharks or hammerheads or narwhals living and breeding in aquariums, then being released to the wild. Attempts to bring the last few vaquita porpoises into captivity from the Gulf of California went horribly wrong in 2017, when one panicked and had to be immediately set free, and a second swiftly died of a stress-induced heart attack.

Advertisement

In plenty of cases, ocean reintroductions shouldn’t be necessary because the seas have a tremendous capacity to rewild themselves, given a chance. Leave alone areas of the ocean where fishing and other threats are curtailed and marine populations should bounce back. But there are some cases where particular species may benefit from extra help.

The Raja Ampat Islands in the West Papua province of Indonesia could soon become the site of the world’s first release of captive-bred sharks. The species in question is the zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum), known as the leopard shark locally, which is classified as endangered largely due to overfishing, in particular to meet rising demand for shark fin soup.

In the 1980s giant clams were thought to be extinct around Fiji but captive breeding and careful reef management have helped to establish new colonies. Photograph: John De Mello/Alamy

As a target for rewilding, the zebra shark has several things going for it. First, it’s one of only a few elasmobranchs that breed well in captivity. Second, rather than giving birth to live young, zebra sharks lay egg cases, which are far simpler and safer to ship around the planet. It’s a species that is not doing well in the waters around Raja Ampat, which are inside marine-protected areas and already off limits to fishing boats.

“A lot of the other shark and ray species have recovered from the fisheries back in the early 90s,” says Levans, who is involved in the Stegostoma tigrinum Augmentation and Recovery (StAR) project. “The zebra sharks unfortunately have not.”

These spotted, snub-nosed sharks seem to have been so severely overfished around Raja Ampat that not enough individuals remain for the species to recover unaided. Computer models suggest that sharks released to the area would kickstart the population.

Advertisement

All being well, in November this year zebra shark egg cases will be taken from zoos and aquariums and transported to hatcheries based at the resort of Misool and the Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Centre. The new arrivals are destined to become a poster species for sustainable tourism.

Species in most land-based rewilding efforts are no longer targeted for pelts or meat. In the ocean, intensive hunting continues

“People from other countries will come to Raja Ampat to see this charismatic creature,” says Prof Charlie Heatubun, head of the research and development agency at the provincial government of West Papua, a key partner in the reintroduction efforts. For tourists, the shark pups swimming in their open-water pens will be a star attraction before they are released to the ocean.

On the other side of the world, elasmobranchs are the focus for a much longer-term plan to restore missing animals. Flapper skates are flat, diamond-shaped relatives of sharks with a two-metre wing span. As Gijs van Zonneveld from ARK Natuurontwikkeling, in the Netherlands, says: “They’re like manta rays.” Highly vulnerable to trawling from the moment they hatch out of their handspan-sized egg cases, these giants are critically endangered and have become exceedingly rare in the North Sea. Van Zonneveld is spearheading an initiative with WWF Netherlands to rewild the North Sea including, they hope, the comeback of flapper skates. He says: “For us, it is very important that flapper skates can return by about 2030.”

Advertisement

The first step Van Zonneveld and colleagues are taking is to work out whether the skates could make their own way into Dutch parts of the North Sea, with individuals migrating from their only remaining strongholds around Shetland and Orkney and the west coast of Scotland. If that proves unlikely, the next step will be to consider the possibility of releasing captive-bred skates. But that is a long way off.

Currently, there are no flapper skates in captivity, and even if there were, it would be a long time before a breeding population could be established. In October 2020, a baby flapper emerged from its egg case at an aquarium in Oban after it was laid on the deck of a fishing boat by a female skate who was caught and subsequently released alive back to the sea. The egg had taken 535 days to hatch.

Then there is the crucial challenge that would await any captive-bred flapper skates or any other animals that might one day be released to the ocean. Species involved in most land-based rewilding efforts are by and large no longer targeted for their pelts or meat. In the ocean, however, intensive hunting of wild animals continues.

Last year, after 535 days in its egg case, a flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) hatched in captivity for the first time. They have been listed as critically endangered since 2006. Photograph: NatureScot Marine/Scottish Association for Marine Science/BBC

Advertisement

“We have an awful lot we need to achieve through fisheries management, as an immediate priority,” says Ali Hood, director of the Shark Trust. Even within marine protected areas, animals such as flapper skates may not be safe from getting caught in trawl nets, which still operate in many of these zones.

Until intensive fishing pressure is addressed in the North Sea, no flapper skates will be released. Van Zonneveld sees the answer as lying partly in helping the fishing industry to adapt its gear and avoid catching them in the first place, and to release them carefully if they do. He says: “What we’re trying to do when we’re bringing back the flapper skate is to forge new relationships between the users of the North Sea and the ecology of the North Sea.”

Another mobile, ocean-going species has already been released from captivity in massive numbers. Growing up to six metres, the length of an orca, European sea sturgeon have been hunted across Europe for centuries, mostly for their meat rather than eggs, for which their sister species further east, such as sevruga and beluga, are highly prized. Like salmon, the fish spend their adult lives at sea before swimming up rivers to spawn, although unlike salmon they keep mating throughout their centenarian lives, sometimes actively straying into different rivers.

The last time they were seen spawning was in the Gironde estuary in France in 1994. In an attempt to return them to their former glory, about 1.6m captive-reared young sturgeon have been released across Europe in the past decade or so. That’s roughly the time it takes for sturgeon to reach maturity, which means, as Rory Moore from BLUE Marine Foundation says: “We may have fish coming back to spawn very soon.”

Moore and his colleague Alex Hubberstey are part of the newly formed UK Sturgeon Alliance, a group working towards seeing sturgeon swimming once again through Europe’s waterways, including in their former ranges across the UK. Moore says: “We really have a responsibility to make sure that our rivers are suitable for them to return.”

A European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio. In the past decade around 1.6m of the fish have been reared and released. The hope is that the species will return to its former spawning grounds. Photograph: Paulo Oliveira/Alamy

Advertisement

This summer, Moore and Hubberstey will search the Rivers Wye, Towy (or Tywi in Welsh) and Severn for suitable sturgeon spawning grounds. Sturgeon chiefly need gravel beds of the right consistency to lay their eggs. The scientists will also gather samples of environmental or eDNA from the water and riverbed mud to see if the right kinds of invertebrate prey are present for sturgeon to eat – they are bottom feeders – and to look for sturgeon themselves. Fish shed fragments of skin and cells in the water. “It would just be amazing,” says Moore, “if we found a hint of a sturgeon out there.”

The next stage will involve working out where sturgeon need help negotiating weirs that stand between them and their spawning grounds. Time will tell how many released sturgeon have survived their sea-based youth, and whether the great spawning runs will recommence, but a few are already showing up. In August last year, a tagged French sturgeon was caught off the Devon coast, demonstrating the interconnected nature of this kind of aquatic rewilding.

“One of the hopes is that, eventually, every major river that has available habitat and is connected will have a healthy sturgeon population in it, with sturgeon coming back and forth from Europe,” says Hubberstey. And as they do, the sturgeon will have to run the gauntlet of fisheries.

“There are still many questions with respect to the reality of rewilding programmes for mobile marine species,” says Hood. Guarding a giant clam that stays put is difficult enough, but preventing other released species from swimming straight into a fishing net is another matter entirely. The intentions of captive breeding and release efforts, Hood says, need to extend beyond the moment of release, throughout the long lives of individual animals and on to future generations. She says: “This is a challenging task in an ocean rife with overfishing.”

• Dr Helen Scales is a marine biologist, diver, surfer and author of The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed (Bloomsbury Sigma, £16.99). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.