Sturgeon Recovery Program -- Release a Fish Yourself!
By Contributor
Sturgeon: “the ancients of the deep.”
(From material submitted by Angus Glass, Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program)
Release your very own pre-historic-like fish into the Columbia River on Tuesday, May 5, at Gyro Park from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.
The annual Juvenile White Sturgeon Release is hosted by the Upper Columbia White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative. Since 2000, nearly 137,000 juvenile white sturgeon have been released into the upper Columbia River from the HLK Dam in Canada to Kettle Falls in Washington State. This initiative is very important for the survival of sturgeon in the Columbia, because for the past 40 years, very few wild sturgeon eggs have resulted in surviving juvenile and adult fish.
Biologists estimate that about 25% of the juvenile fish released into the river have survived, and are focusing on efforts to determine why the wild eggs and larvae are not growing to maturity. The goal is to have a self-sustaining sturgeon population, not reliant on hatchery releases for survival.
Biologists have recently started collecting eggs and larvae in the wild to raise into juveniles in the hatchery. The success rate will be monitored, and the number of juveniles released in future years will likely fluctuate.
All the juvenile sturgeon released as part of this program are raised at the Freshwater Fishery Society of BC’s Kootenay Trout Hatchery, through a program funded by BC Hydro and supported by the Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program.
The recovery initiative is a partnership of more than 20 stakeholders, from government and First Nations, industry including Teck, Fortis, and Columbia Power Corporation, community and environmental organizations. Sturgeon recovery includes research to determine causes of population decline, release of hatchery-reared juveniles such as the one scheduled for May 5 at Gyro Park, restoration of habitat, and monitoring and management of water flows.
The event is free and everyone is welcome. For more information on the Upper Columbia White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative, visit:
www.uppercolumbia sturgeon.org
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