Something fishy …
By Mathieu Lebel, Water Management Advisor, WWF-Canada
Perhaps nobody knows, but ‘Pandas’ (a.k.a. staff) at WWF certainly like lake sturgeon…enough to adopt 12 this spring!
About a year ago, I helped briefly describe why lake sturgeon are fascinating and how fortunate I was to be able to join researchers on a week-long expedition tagging and collecting data on lake sturgeon in the Alberta portion of the South Saskatchewan River Basin.
This spring, my fellow sturgeon enthusiast colleague, Steph Morgan, and I engaged many ‘Pandas’ at WWF in lake sturgeon research and conservation efforts, through the Greater Nipissing Stewardship Council’s (GNSC) Adopt A Sturgeon Program.
The Adopt a Sturgeon Program provides adopters with the opportunity to observe lake sturgeon tagging, obtain biological information, and receive updates on “their” lake sturgeon if recaptured in subsequent years. The money raised through this program supports the ongoing lake sturgeon conservation efforts of the GNSC.
This year’s Adopt a Sturgeon Program is being run in conjunction with the Nipissing First Nation’s (NFN) Natural Resources Department as part of an ongoing assessment of the health of the adult sturgeon population. This means noting their age, size, sex, and numbers of spawning fish when captured and/or recaptured, and tagging them with PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags. I was lucky enough to join researchers Nikki Commanda, Jeff McLeod and Clayton Goulais from the NFN’s Natural Resources Department and GNSC Chair John Thornton for an afternoon on the Sturgeon River (appropriately named, eh?) in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario.
Nipissing First Nation researchers assessing an adult lake sturgeon © Mathieu Lebel / WWF Canada
There, I had the opportunity to assist in the assessment process. We gently caught the fish in big nets, took measurements and pictures, tagged those that had not been caught before, and released them back into the river. Lake sturgeon are such a unique and mesmerizing species, it is difficult to describe the thrill of viewing and interacting with them. Three of the lake sturgeon we caught and released that day were over 36 kg (80 pounds) in weight and ranged between 1.6 – 1.9m in total length (5-6 feet) (needless to say some of the biggest fish I have ever seen). It is difficult to say exactly how old these fish are without taking a fin sample, but lake sturgeon can live over 100 years. It is an incredible feeling to know that there are lake sturgeon swimming in our lakes and rivers that may be as old and older than you – a true testament to our freshwater heritage and legacy.
Me releasing a 38 pound lake sturgeon back into the Sturgeon River © Nikki Commanda. Lake Sturgeon in this region are part of the Great Lakes – Upper St. Lawrence Lake Sturgeon populations which have been designated as threatened by COSEWIC, and classified as threatened by COSSARO. These populations are currently being considered for listing under the federal Species at Risk Act, while a provincial recovery strategy has been developed with a Government Response Statement expected shortly.
