Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 10

Existing Protection or Other Status Designations

The current global, national (United States and Canada), subnational (state) and provincial ranks for paddlefish are presented in the Technical Summary. The species is listed by IUCN as Vulnerable and is protected (including parts and derivatives) in international trade through an Appendix II listing by CITES.

The paddlefish was last re-examined and designated as Extirpated by COSEWIC in May 2000. In Ontario, the provincial status is Extirpated (OMNR 2007), while the provincial S Rank from NatureServe is SX (Extirpated) [NatureServe 2007]. The general status ranking for the paddlefish is 1 - (Extirpated) for Canada and Ontario (CESCC 2006).

The paddlefish is listed as an Extirpated species under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) [EC 2007]. Besides offering legal protection to the species, the Act requires the development of a Recovery strategy. The Proposed Recovery Strategy (Reid et al. 2007) determined that recovery of this species in Canada is not technically or biologically feasible at this time.

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