Why Are Lake Sturgeon Important

It is about the same size as the common sturgeon and is found particularly in the rivers feeding the Black and Caspian seas.

Why are lake sturgeon important. Lawrence River population Pratt 2008. Lake Sturgeon is a threatened species because it was overfished starting in late 1800s early 1900s. According to myth the first white sturgeon was the daughter of the first man created at Pitt Lake and visitors were required to ask the village for permission to fish.

Lake sturgeon can be considered a nearshore warmwater species with water temperature and depth preferences of low 50s to mid-60 o F and 15-30 feet respectively. Most species live in the ocean and ascend rivers to spawn in spring or summer. The Lake Sturgeon are considered by Aboriginal people to be an important resource.

At first these fish were caught because of the damage they did to fishing gear but soon there became a market for the fish and their eggs and they became a commercial product. At the Sturgeon Festival the harvested fish were completely utilized. Referred to as buffalo of the water.

By Kristin Bott graduate student Michigan State University. Sturgeon are vulnerable to over-fishing because of their late sexual maturity 6-25 years. Mature adults average between three and five feet in length and ten to 80 pounds in weight but can occasionally grow as large as seven plus feet and 300 plus pounds.

In the 1800s the sturgeons economic value was recognized by European settlers and commercial fishing of sturgeon intensified resulting in rapid declines in abundance of the species through the late 1800s. Croix River and lower Mississippi River systems. Native Americans revered the lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens as an important part of their culture.

2010b both of which are inhabited by Lake Sturgeon that are part of the Northwestern Ontario population and for Lake Sturgeon in the Great LakesSt. Sturgeon Management Units have been developed for Lake Sturgeon within the Red Assiniboine rivers Cleator et al. During the 1990s the total catch was dramatically increased by.