Blue pike

Listed: 3/11/1967

Status since listing: Extinct before listing

The blue pike (Stizostedion glaucum) was historically found in Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and in the Niagara River [1]. It was driven to extinction by unbridled commercial and sport fishing that landed over a billion pounds of fish from the Great Lakes between 1885 and 1962. At times, the blue pike made up more than 50% of the Lake Erie commercial catch. Around 1915, population levels began a cycle of extreme fluctuations, leading to the eventual collapse of the fishery in 1958. The blue pike was protected under the precursor to the Endangered Species Act in 1967 and placed under the protection of the modern Endangered Species Act in 1974. The blue pike, however, was last seen in 1971.

[1] U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1983. Deregulation of the longjaw cisco and the blue pike. September 2, 1983 (48 FR 39941).