Lake Sturgeon And Status

1997 and Choudhury and Dick 1998.

Lake sturgeon and status. They spawn in relatively shallow fast-flowing water usually below waterfalls rapids or. The status of Lake Sturgeon within each of the three COSSARO designated regions in Ontario is described below. Lake sturgeon are still present in Tobin Lake and at the Forks of the Saskatchewan J.

The species long life span and resiliency the remote location of many northern popula- tions long-term pro-active management programs effectively controlling exploitation improved habitat and water-quality conditions and recovery programs that have. Four of these species are anadromous spending part of the life cycle in freshwater and part in marine environments and one the lake sturgeon. Personal communication and anglers reported catches at several sites along both rivers although the recreational fishery has been closed since 1996 Smith 2003.

They are a benthic bottom dwelling species that feeds over substrates of. In the summer of 2002 boat electrofishing 401 hours downstream of Prince Albert on the North Saskatchewan River failed to find any lake sturgeon. All lake sturgeon populations that have been impacted by exploitation have declined many to very low levels Brousseau 1987.

The status of lake sturgeon in Alberta is currently fiUndeterminedfl according to The General Status of Alberta Wild Species 2000 Alberta Sustainable Resource Development 2001. The Lake Nipissing watershed is situated within the Great Lakes watershed of the province of Ontario Canada. Aboriginal fisheries are ongoing.

The family contains 24 species five of which are found in Canadian waters Scott and Crossman 1998. Lake Sturgeon is the only strictly freshwater species of sturgeon in Canadian waters. As a group sturgeons are considered living fossils having changed little from their ancestors of the Devonian Period.

However Lake Sturgeon are still present in low to high densities throughout their native range due pri- marily to factors including. Lawrence populations was not made available following the 2005 assessment. The Lake Sturgeon lives almost exclusively in freshwater lakes and rivers with soft bottoms of mud sand or gravel.