|
> Conserving
Fisheries new __________ |
Lake Sturgeon Investigations
Of Interest: Great Lakes Lake Sturgeon Web Site | Lake Sturgeon Tag Identification Database
|
Lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, are pre-historic fish native to Lake Huron and the Great Lakes. Lake sturgeon inhabit large river and lake systems primarily in the Mississippi River, Hudson Bay and Great Lakes basins. They were considered a nuisance by early commercial fishers because of no market value and the damage the fish did to commercial gears. By the early 1900s many populations of lake sturgeon had been greatly reduced or extirpated as a result of overfishing, habitat loss, the construction of dams, and pollution. Efforts are being made by state, federal and provincial agencies to recover and gain more information on lake sturgeon population status, early life history, and habitat use.Alpena NFWCO is currently working with partners to monitor lake sturgeon in areas of Lakes Huron and Erie, and their connecting waterways (St. Mary's River, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River). Historically, sturgeon were known to spawn in several locations in Michigan waters of Lake Huron, including the Au Sable River and at certain locations within Saginaw Bay.
Alpena NFWCO's Lake Sturgeon ProgramThe Alpena NFWCO is working with partners to conduct lake sturgeon investigations in the following areas (follow links for more information):
Main objectives of Alpena NFWCOs Lake Sturgeon Program include the following:1) Develop a coordinated, multi-agency effort to assess the current status of lake sturgeon stocks in Lakes Huron, Erie, and the St. Clair System.
2) Continue and expand a tagging program to better define relative abundance and seasonal movement of lake sturgeon within the system.
3) Conduct a qualitative and quantitative assessment of critical habitat parameters associated with remnant stocks of sturgeon.
4) Develop a standardized database for the storage, management, and sharing of biotic and abiotic information important for the development of effective restoration and management plans.
5) Create an information transfer system that will provide valuable information accessible to interested parties, both inside and outside the Great Lakes basin.
Interest in the status and trends of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes basin has been increasing within all natural resource agencies involved in fisheries management. Federal, state, tribal and provincial agencies have initiated status surveys and are in various stages of development of recovery or management plans for waters under their jurisdiction. In 1996 representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, OMNR, MDNR, Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODOW), and the Ohio State University met in Mt. Clemens, Michigan to develop a coordinated effort for enhanced understanding of the current status of lake sturgeon in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie region of the Great Lakes. Staff from the Alpena NFWCO served the lead role for the early coordination of this group. This interagency collaborative effort has since expanded to other areas in the Great Lakes basin.The group has worked to standardize the collection of information on lake sturgeon across the Great Lakes Basin. Three work shops were held to facilitate this standardization. A lake sturgeon sexing and gonad state of maturity work shop was held in June 1998. Ron Bruch, Senior Fishery Biologist, working for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, instructed the workshop. A lake sturgeon age interpretation work shop was held in January 1999. The purpose of the work shop was to introduce biologists to computerized fish age interpretation software developed by Dr. John Casselman from the OMNR. A third workshop was held in December 1999 on the collection and analysis of lake sturgeon genetic information. The initiatives that have been launched through this collaborative effort should enable the participating resource agencies to gather more information, in a timely manner, on the status of this historically important Great Lakes fish species.
