Pictured above are juvenile Lake Sturgeon being restocked into a waterbody. (Used with permission of Scott Schlueter/United States Fish and Wildlife Service)
Do you think it is possible that prehistoric organisms still roam the waters of New York? No, I am not referring to Champ, New York's answer to the myth of the Loch Ness Monster of Lake Champlain. The dinosaur I am referring to prowls the depths of many local waterways. Meet Acipenser fulvescens, otherwise known as the Lake Sturgeon.
United States Fish and Wildlife worker handling an adult Lake Sturgeon on the bank of a waterbody. (Brett Billings/USFWS)
Lake Sturgeon are an ancient looking fish that belong to a taxonomic family dating back to the age of the dinosaurs. Their appearance, which has not changed much in the past 150 million years, has left these fish looking like living fossils from the Jurassic Age.
Sturgeon are one of the oldest and largest fish that inhabit the Great Lakes, reaching lengths from six to eight feet and ages that supersede that of humans. Their ability to consume overabundant invasive species like Zebra mussels and the notorious round goby fish that have proven to be especially destructive in many New York watersheds, has made these ancient fish especially useful natural predators.
To the right, a large group of juvenile Lake Sturgeon are seen clustering around rocks on a shallow bank. (Used with permission of Scott Schlueter/USFWS)
However, the Lake Sturgeon species has been labeled as threatened in New York State since 1983.
In the late 1880s, overharvesting of Lake Sturgeon by the fishing industry was rampant. They were sought after for the tastiness of their roe (caviar) and the various properties for which their flesh could be re-purposed. Because of this, they were being harvested at an unsustainable rate.
The unique reproductive cycles of sturgeon made it hard to replenish their population. Where most fish commonly reproduce at least once a year, sturgeon will not always reproduce on a yearly basis. Dawn Dittman, Ph.D., a research ecologist with the United States Geological Survey, said that it can take the males at least 10 years before they reach spawning age and the females can take even longer. This factor combined with overfishing, construction of dams, and habitat pollution is believed to have led to the decline of sturgeon populations.
This is why in 1993, several scientists including Roger Clint, Doug Carlson, and Steve Lapan began devising a project to restore this magnificent creature.
Scott Schlueter, a United States Fish and Wildlife Biologist who leads the project to restore Lake Sturgeon in Massena, New York, tells me that the project originally began by collecting sturgeon eggs from Quebec by "stripping" - a method of manually harvesting eggs to be artificially fertilized. Schlueter joined the sturgeon project in 1996 and has continued to work on it since.
To the left, juvenile Lake Sturgeon being released into the wild. They are rather large at this stage. Scott Schlueter of the USFWS said that they range from 7-10 inches in length at the time they are re-stocked. (Used with permission of Scott Schlueter/USFWS)
The main goal of the project is to restore Lake Sturgeon to viable population levels in eight waterbodies in New York State. The hope is that they will be able to reproduce completely on their own and maintain a sustainable population level.
What began as a pilot project started by a small group of scientists working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), now has expanded to include scientists working with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and other partners.
To the right, Scott Schlueter and two colleagues are pictured mixing sturgeon eggs and milt (seminal fluid) in a metal bowl on Egg Take Day in Massena, NY. This is a common method used to artificially fertilize Lake Sturgeon eggs (Used with permission of Scott Schlueter/USFWS)
The process of how scientists are repopulating this species, starting with eggs and ending with thousands of juvenile sturgeon, is fascinating.
First, Scientists collect reproducing sturgeon using gill nets just below the Moses-Saunders Dam in Massena, NY. Schlueter said that about 5 females and 20-25 males are collected. The eggs are then collected into a metal bowl from the female, and a syringe with aquarium tubing is used to collect the milt from the male. The milt then undergoes a motility test to determine how effective it will be at fertilizing the eggs.
Feathers are used to gently stir the milt into the eggs, and thoroughly combine the milt and egg solution.
The now fertilized eggs are packaged up and placed onto the back of trucks. Half will be sent to the Genoa National Fish Hatchery in Genoa, Wisconsin, and the other half will be sent to the NYS DEC's Oneida Fish Hatchery. The New York fish will be raised until the fall, when Schlueter said approximately 1000-2500 juvenile sturgeon will be distributed into the Genesee River, Cayuga Lake, the Niagara River, the St. Lawrence River, Oneida Lake, the Oswegatchie River, Black River, or Lake Champlain.
Background image is a close-up of a cluster of juvenile Lake Sturgeon. Here, their notable bony structure or scutes, are apparent as the spiny structures that run down their dorsal side. (Used with permission of Scott Schlueter/USFWS)
Lisa Holst, an aquatic biologist and the Rare Fish Unit Leader with the NYS DEC, said that of the seven management units outlined in the DEC's Lake Sturgeon Population Assessment , scientists are only waiting on the Eastern Lake Ontario management unit to hit the set population goal. However, there is still uncertainty about when scientists can actually say that the project has fulfilled what it originally set out to do.
When asked what his opinion was regarding the foreseeable removal of sturgeon from the threatened species list, Schlueter said that scientists are still trying to determine what a healthy reproducing population looks like.
"I mean, these fish are fascinating,” Schlueter said. “...It's kind of akin to cutting an oak forest down and then putting acorns in the ground, right? We don't know what a real healthy sturgeon population looks like in many waters because we just need time. And we're planting acorns.”