Meeting Summary

The 2006 Coordination Meeting was attended by 131 individuals representing 42 different entities. These included representatives from six of the nine Great Lake states, nine Tribal/First Nation natural resource agencies, three U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, one Provincial agency, eleven Universities, five Consulting/Private organizations, five non-governmental organizations, and one commercial fishing operation.

Twenty-six oral presentations were presented at the meeting addressing the 5 general focus areas along with 12 posters. Seven talks addressed the focus area of habitat use and juvenile ecology, six talks addressed the focus area of genetics and management implications, three talks addressed the focus area of stream-side rearing, five talks addressed the focus area of sturgeon legal issues, and five talks addressed the focus area of assessment technologies. Following presentations for each of the five general focus areas a facilitated discussion session was opened to allow presenters to address questions from meeting participants. The presentation schedule, titles, and presenters/authors is/are on pages 7 – 9, and oral and poster presentation abstracts can be found on pages 10 – 22.

A specific focus for this meeting was to address sturgeon legal issues. Presentations were given by five invited experts: Fred Hnytka (DFO Canada), Greg Drogowski (Michigan DNR), Todd Schaller (Wisconsin DNR), Mike Kitt (Wisconsin DNR), and Mary Burnham Curtis (USFWS). Following their presentations, these individuals were joined by Craig Tabor (USFWS), Robert Luke (DFO Canada), and Don Waukechon (Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin) to form a panel of law experts that addressed questions and inquiries from meeting participants. The panel was moderated by Lloyd Mohr (Ontario MNR) and Tom Pratt (DFO Canada). The panel discussion session is paraphrased on pages 23 – 33.

The 13 poster presentations were displayed during an evening social for all participants held on the evening of day one. At the beginning of the social, each presenter was given a few minutes to give a brief verbal summary of their poster. Following the summaries participants were given the opportunity to mingle with the presenters, ask questions and get feedback about their projects. The social also provided participants an opportunity to network with fellow sturgeon enthusiasts in a relaxed setting, and if they were lucky, hear their name called for one of the sturgeon related door prizes.

Four basin oriented groups were formed at the end of the second day as a breakout session. The basin groups were Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, combined Lake Huron and Lake Erie (including Lake St. Clair and Detroit River), and Lake Ontario combined with the St. Lawrence River. This session served as an opportunity for those working or interested in sturgeon related activities on a particular basin to gather and discuss topics of importance to participants and to update lake basin maps depicting lake sturgeon population status. Summary notes from the basin oriented breakout sessions are on pages 34 – 40.

Meeting feedback and comments submitted by participants on the evaluation form are summarized on pages 41 – 43. Meeting participant names, contact and biographical information are on pages 45 – 65.

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