White sturgeon
Encyclopedia
The white sturgeon also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon, is a sturgeon
(a fish of the family Acipenseridae) which lives along the west coast of North America
from the Aleutian Islands to Central California
.
It is the largest freshwater fish in North America and is the third largest species of sturgeon, after the Beluga and the Kaluga
. The white sturgeon is known to reach a maximum size of 816 kg (1,798 lb) and 6.1 m (20.1 ft).
s that serve as a form of armor. There are 11–14 dorsal
scutes, all anterior to the dorsal fin
, and 38–48 lateral
scutes and 9–12 ventral scutes on each side. The dorsal color of a White Sturgeon is gray, pale olive, or gray-brown. The fins are a dusky, opaque gray. The underside is a clean white. It has four barbel
s, used for sensing food, near its huge toothless mouth.
Sturgeons are classified as a bony fish, but actually are more cartilaginous than bony, their internal bone structure being more like a shark
’s. Sturgeon have changed very little since they first appeared, over 175 million years ago and thus have the appearance of a very ancient fish.
s, bay
s, and estuarine
areas, including the brackish water at the mouths of large rivers. Other sturgeon will spend most of its time in a marine environment, only coming into rivers to spawn. They are well-adapted to finding food drifting by with their excellent sense of smell and taste. When there is an insufficient food supply, sturgeon have been known to move into shallow water to eat freshwater clam
s.
During the spawning season, the white sturgeon moves to clean, fast-moving areas of rivers, such as just below rapids, with gravel
or larger rocks along the bottom.
many times in their lives. As they age, the females spawn less often, but produce more eggs in each spawning. In the late spring or early summer, they congregate in areas of rivers with a heavy current, gravel bottom, and a water temperature of 58 °F to 66 °F (14 °C to 19 °C). The fish broadcast spawn in these areas, with males releasing sperm as the outnumbered females release anywhere from 100,000 to a million eggs. The fertilized eggs then sink and adhere to the gravel at the bottom. The eggs are brown in color and will hatch in about a week, depending on water temperature. Female white sturgeon do not spawn every year.
Upon hatching, the larva
e are around 0.5 in. (1.3 cm) long, with a tadpole
-like appearance. They drift downstream with the current until they reach a suitable habitat. When the rearing habitat is reached, the larvae typically take around 25 days for the yolk sac to be absorbed. About a month after hatching, the sturgeon will have a full set of fins, rays, and scutes. As small juveniles, they feed on insects, small fish, and small crustacean
s. Maturity is reached between 5 and 11 years, depending on the gender of the fish and the temperature of the water.
White Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old. The rate of growth is dependent on water temperature. Typically, they reach six feet long around 25 years of age, showing that these fish do not grow as quickly as many other fish. White Sturgeon are anadromous meaning they spawn in fresh water and migrate to salt water to mature. Sturgeon may migrate in and out of salt water many times in their lives. However, since the building of many dams along the Columbia
and Snake river
s, the populations above the dams have become landlocked.
Unexpected social behavior has been observed in white sturgeon of the lower Columbia River. Up to 60,000 sturgeon massed in a dense "sturgeon ball" at the base of the Bonneville Dam
in early 2008. Scientists do not know what the reason for the behavior was, but predator avoidance is one theory.
system, dead fish, crustacean
s, and mollusks are all popular prey. Lamprey
s, primitive eel
-like fish, come into rivers to spawn at the same time as the white sturgeon, and are a popular food source at that time. Smelt is another food that is abundant around spawning time. Shad
come into the Columbia River system in throngs of several million each spring. The extremely large shad runs are often cited as an example of why the lower Columbia River has such a large population of Sturgeon. Like the smelt, these fish often die, and the remains are an easy meal for sturgeon.
Non-Indian commercial fisheries for white sturgeon occur in the mainstem Columbia River downstream from Bonneville Dam
. These fisheries use gillnets. Commercial sturgeon fishing may be done in conjunction with commercial salmon fishing or may be a targeted fishery. Release mortality on undersize and oversize sturgeon is estimated by state fish and wildlife managers to be low. Generally fisheries are managed with weekly landing limits per fisher. Green sturgeon are sometimes caught but must be released unharmed.
Tribal sturgeon fisheries occur in the mainstem Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and McNary Dam. Tribal fisheries primarily use gillnets and setline gear. Some sturgeon are caught with hook and line gear or hoopnets from platforms along the shore. The tribes have subsistence and commercial fisheries for sturgeon.
Worldwide, sturgeon commercial fisheries use sturgeon for meat and eggs, the eggs being most sought after. Caviar
is considered a delicacy in many parts of Europe and North America. In the Columbia River, size restrictions make it very unlikely any fishers ever legally retain egg-bearing fish. The fish caught legally by sport and commercial fishers are too small and not yet sexually mature enough to make harvesting for eggs worthwhile.
(180–440 N) test fishing line is used for bank fishing. For boat fishing a smaller 6–7 foot (2 m) long rod is used. Anglers vary the amount of weight used depending on how heavy the current is, anywhere from 6 to 20 ounces (210–560 g). Often, an angler will use a 10–12 inch soft braided leader to connect the weight to the hook. Sport fishermen divide the sturgeon into three classes: shakers, keepers, and oversize. Shakers consist of any fish under the legal size. Keepers are any fish within the legal size requirement. Oversize, often called peelers, are any fish over the maximum size requirement of 66 inches (1.37 m). They are called peelers because of the way they “peel” line off of the reel. Many sturgeon fishermen target these exclusively. When sturgeon first encounter the bait, they “mouth” it, which is to say that they taste and feel it before inhaling it whole.
s. Dioxin is an unintentional byproduct of paper bleaching and pesticides. It is also one of the most commonly found toxins in fish populations. PCB
is also found in fish. It is used as a plasticizor in paint, rubber, and plastic products. Before the government ceased its production in 1977, more than 1,500,000,000 pounds (680,000 tonne
s) were produced. Mercury
is one of the more commonly known toxins found in fish’s flesh. Some have speculated that it is also the most dangerous. Sturgeon and other fish in the Columbia and Willamette rivers have registered 0.35 to 0.50 parts per million. Although most accumulation in Sturgeon happens in the liver, pancreas, and other organs; the toxins still accumulate in the edible flesh. The Oregon Department of fish and Wildlife has issued warnings on all fish caught in the Willamette River
. For areas with high mercury levels: (Willamette and Lower Columbia Rivers) “Women of childbearing age, children under six, and people with liver and kidney damage should avoid eating fish from these waters. Healthy adults should eat no more than one eight ounce meal per month.” Also for areas with high concentrations of PCB
s, dioxins, and pesticides: (Willamette and Lower Columbia Rivers)
, estuarine
, and freshwater
environments. All other populations have become landlocked because of the dams. These populations have suffered from the inaccessibility of many food sources, inability to migrate, and destruction of their habitat. As a result, none of the populations above Bonneville Dam
are considered to be abundant. White sturgeon in the Kootenai River are at such a low level that they were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act
in 1994. Some white sturgeon populations, however, do support fisheries. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has worked together with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Treaty Tribes to impose size restrictions as well as season and quota restrictions on all sturgeon caught in the Columbia River. The objective of size restrictions is to minimize fishing impacts on large sturgeon that comprise the spawning population. Poaching
is also partly responsible for declining numbers.
Fishery management agencies have implemented more restrictive commercial and recreational fishing regulations such as closed areas to protect spawning fish in order to help protect this magnificent creature. These fishery regulations in conjunction with hydrosystem management actions taken by the Corps of Engineers
and restoration funding provided by the Bonneville Power Administration
will help alleviate the over harvest of Sturgeon and destruction of Sturgeon habitat.
State and tribal fishery managers have experimented with spawning sturgeon artificially and raising sturgeon in hatcheries with the goal of releasing juvenile sturgeon in the upstream areas of the Columbia and Snake Rivers to help rebuild sturgeon populations in these areas. Initial results are promising, but no full scale hatchery production has been funded.
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
(a fish of the family Acipenseridae) which lives along the west coast of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from the Aleutian Islands to Central California
Central California
Central California, sometimes referenced as Mid-State, is an area of California south of the San Francisco Bay Area and north of Southern California...
.
It is the largest freshwater fish in North America and is the third largest species of sturgeon, after the Beluga and the Kaluga
Kaluga (fish)
The Kaluga is a large predatory sturgeon found in the Amur River basin. Also known as the River Beluga, they are claimed to be the largest freshwater fish in the world, with a maximum size of at least 1,000 kg and 5.6 m . Like the slightly larger Beluga, it spends part of its life in...
. The white sturgeon is known to reach a maximum size of 816 kg (1,798 lb) and 6.1 m (20.1 ft).
Physical appearance
The white sturgeon has a slender, long body, head and mouth. This fish has no scales; instead it has large bony scuteScute
A scute or scutum is a bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, the feet of some birds or the anterior portion of the mesonotum in insects.-Properties:...
s that serve as a form of armor. There are 11–14 dorsal
Dorsum (biology)
In anatomy, the dorsum is the upper side of animals that typically run, fly, or swim in a horizontal position, and the back side of animals that walk upright. In vertebrates the dorsum contains the backbone. The term dorsal refers to anatomical structures that are either situated toward or grow...
scutes, all anterior to the dorsal fin
Dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
, and 38–48 lateral
Anatomical terms of location
Standard anatomical terms of location are designations employed in science that deal with the anatomy of animals to avoid ambiguities that might otherwise arise. They are not language-specific, and thus require no translation...
scutes and 9–12 ventral scutes on each side. The dorsal color of a White Sturgeon is gray, pale olive, or gray-brown. The fins are a dusky, opaque gray. The underside is a clean white. It has four barbel
Barbel (anatomy)
A barbel on a fish is a slender, whiskerlike tactile organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, sturgeon, the zebrafish and some species of shark...
s, used for sensing food, near its huge toothless mouth.
Sturgeons are classified as a bony fish, but actually are more cartilaginous than bony, their internal bone structure being more like a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
’s. Sturgeon have changed very little since they first appeared, over 175 million years ago and thus have the appearance of a very ancient fish.
Habitat
The white sturgeon lives on the bottom of slow-moving riverRiver
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
s, and estuarine
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
areas, including the brackish water at the mouths of large rivers. Other sturgeon will spend most of its time in a marine environment, only coming into rivers to spawn. They are well-adapted to finding food drifting by with their excellent sense of smell and taste. When there is an insufficient food supply, sturgeon have been known to move into shallow water to eat freshwater clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s.
During the spawning season, the white sturgeon moves to clean, fast-moving areas of rivers, such as just below rapids, with gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
or larger rocks along the bottom.
Life cycle
White sturgeon spawnSpawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
many times in their lives. As they age, the females spawn less often, but produce more eggs in each spawning. In the late spring or early summer, they congregate in areas of rivers with a heavy current, gravel bottom, and a water temperature of 58 °F to 66 °F (14 °C to 19 °C). The fish broadcast spawn in these areas, with males releasing sperm as the outnumbered females release anywhere from 100,000 to a million eggs. The fertilized eggs then sink and adhere to the gravel at the bottom. The eggs are brown in color and will hatch in about a week, depending on water temperature. Female white sturgeon do not spawn every year.
Upon hatching, the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e are around 0.5 in. (1.3 cm) long, with a tadpole
Tadpole
A tadpole or polliwog is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad.- Appellation :...
-like appearance. They drift downstream with the current until they reach a suitable habitat. When the rearing habitat is reached, the larvae typically take around 25 days for the yolk sac to be absorbed. About a month after hatching, the sturgeon will have a full set of fins, rays, and scutes. As small juveniles, they feed on insects, small fish, and small crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s. Maturity is reached between 5 and 11 years, depending on the gender of the fish and the temperature of the water.
White Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old. The rate of growth is dependent on water temperature. Typically, they reach six feet long around 25 years of age, showing that these fish do not grow as quickly as many other fish. White Sturgeon are anadromous meaning they spawn in fresh water and migrate to salt water to mature. Sturgeon may migrate in and out of salt water many times in their lives. However, since the building of many dams along the Columbia
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and Snake river
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
s, the populations above the dams have become landlocked.
Unexpected social behavior has been observed in white sturgeon of the lower Columbia River. Up to 60,000 sturgeon massed in a dense "sturgeon ball" at the base of the Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
in early 2008. Scientists do not know what the reason for the behavior was, but predator avoidance is one theory.
Diet
A sturgeon's taste buds are located on the outside of its mouth. This, along with the barbels, allows it to see if a possible food source is edible before sucking it up into its mouth. As adults, the white sturgeon’s diet somewhat varies. This is dependent upon the river systems it lives in. In the Columbia RiverColumbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
system, dead fish, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, and mollusks are all popular prey. Lamprey
Lamprey
Lampreys are a family of jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated from an admixture of Latin and Greek, lamprey means stone lickers...
s, primitive eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
-like fish, come into rivers to spawn at the same time as the white sturgeon, and are a popular food source at that time. Smelt is another food that is abundant around spawning time. Shad
Shad
The shads or river herrings comprise the genus Alosa, fish related to herring in the family Clupeidae. They are distinct from others in that family by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers. The several species frequent different areas on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea....
come into the Columbia River system in throngs of several million each spring. The extremely large shad runs are often cited as an example of why the lower Columbia River has such a large population of Sturgeon. Like the smelt, these fish often die, and the remains are an easy meal for sturgeon.
Commercial fishing
Historically, sturgeon have been a very important fish, both commercially and for sporting purposes. At one point, sturgeon populations in all of the Columbia River system were threatened due to overfishing. A commercial fishery began in the 1880s. In 1892, this fishery reached a peak, when over five and one half million pounds (2,500 metric tons) of sturgeon were harvested. By the dawn of the 20th century, the seemingly endless supply of sturgeon was severely depleted. In the 1940s a six-foot maximum size restriction was put in place. The commercial fishing of white sturgeon has remained to this day and was valued at US$10.1 million in 1992.Non-Indian commercial fisheries for white sturgeon occur in the mainstem Columbia River downstream from Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
. These fisheries use gillnets. Commercial sturgeon fishing may be done in conjunction with commercial salmon fishing or may be a targeted fishery. Release mortality on undersize and oversize sturgeon is estimated by state fish and wildlife managers to be low. Generally fisheries are managed with weekly landing limits per fisher. Green sturgeon are sometimes caught but must be released unharmed.
Tribal sturgeon fisheries occur in the mainstem Columbia River between Bonneville Dam and McNary Dam. Tribal fisheries primarily use gillnets and setline gear. Some sturgeon are caught with hook and line gear or hoopnets from platforms along the shore. The tribes have subsistence and commercial fisheries for sturgeon.
Worldwide, sturgeon commercial fisheries use sturgeon for meat and eggs, the eggs being most sought after. Caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
is considered a delicacy in many parts of Europe and North America. In the Columbia River, size restrictions make it very unlikely any fishers ever legally retain egg-bearing fish. The fish caught legally by sport and commercial fishers are too small and not yet sexually mature enough to make harvesting for eggs worthwhile.
Sport fishing
Fishing for sturgeon is still very popular in the Columbia River, Willamette River and Snake River. Current sport fishing regulations as imposed by The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife state that Sturgeon may only be kept if measuring between 38 and 54 inches (96.5–137 cm) from the nose to the tail fork. In most years anglers regulations change frequently to limit the number of fish caught. Once the annual quota is reached, retention of sturgeon is no longer allowed. Also, one may only use a single point barbless hook. Bait used for sturgeon is mostly its natural prey including shad, anchovies, shrimp, and smelt. However, more unusual baits are sometimes used. These baits include cheese, anchovies, pickled squid, dog food, and cat food. A strong, 10–12 foot (3.1–3.7 m)long rod and heavy salt water reel spooled with 40–100 poundPound-force
The pound force is a unit of force in some systems of measurement including English engineering units and British gravitational units.- Definitions :...
(180–440 N) test fishing line is used for bank fishing. For boat fishing a smaller 6–7 foot (2 m) long rod is used. Anglers vary the amount of weight used depending on how heavy the current is, anywhere from 6 to 20 ounces (210–560 g). Often, an angler will use a 10–12 inch soft braided leader to connect the weight to the hook. Sport fishermen divide the sturgeon into three classes: shakers, keepers, and oversize. Shakers consist of any fish under the legal size. Keepers are any fish within the legal size requirement. Oversize, often called peelers, are any fish over the maximum size requirement of 66 inches (1.37 m). They are called peelers because of the way they “peel” line off of the reel. Many sturgeon fishermen target these exclusively. When sturgeon first encounter the bait, they “mouth” it, which is to say that they taste and feel it before inhaling it whole.
Toxicity
The threat of toxin bioaccumulation is especially high in Sturgeon meat. Because of its eating habits, sturgeon accumulate toxins in its flesh as it feeds. They feed on any sort of organic material found while scavenging; this includes raw sewage, dead fish, paper mill wastes, and plants sprayed by pesticidePesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s. Dioxin is an unintentional byproduct of paper bleaching and pesticides. It is also one of the most commonly found toxins in fish populations. PCB
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
is also found in fish. It is used as a plasticizor in paint, rubber, and plastic products. Before the government ceased its production in 1977, more than 1,500,000,000 pounds (680,000 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s) were produced. Mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
is one of the more commonly known toxins found in fish’s flesh. Some have speculated that it is also the most dangerous. Sturgeon and other fish in the Columbia and Willamette rivers have registered 0.35 to 0.50 parts per million. Although most accumulation in Sturgeon happens in the liver, pancreas, and other organs; the toxins still accumulate in the edible flesh. The Oregon Department of fish and Wildlife has issued warnings on all fish caught in the Willamette River
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
. For areas with high mercury levels: (Willamette and Lower Columbia Rivers) “Women of childbearing age, children under six, and people with liver and kidney damage should avoid eating fish from these waters. Healthy adults should eat no more than one eight ounce meal per month.” Also for areas with high concentrations of PCB
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
s, dioxins, and pesticides: (Willamette and Lower Columbia Rivers)
- “All persons should reduce or avoid eating fatty parts of fish. Exposure can be reduced by removing the skin and all fat, eggs, and internal organs.”
Conservation
In addition to overfishing, dams constructed along the Columbia and Snake Rivers have also become a threat to sturgeon. The dams block passage to and from the ocean leaving landlocked populations. The higher water levels have, as a result, destroyed areas that used to have rapid currents, eliminating spawning grounds. At this point in time, the only healthy population of White Sturgeon on the Columbia River and its tributaries is the lower Columbia River population. These fish are still able to move freely between marineMarine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
, estuarine
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
, and freshwater
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
environments. All other populations have become landlocked because of the dams. These populations have suffered from the inaccessibility of many food sources, inability to migrate, and destruction of their habitat. As a result, none of the populations above Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
are considered to be abundant. White sturgeon in the Kootenai River are at such a low level that they were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
in 1994. Some white sturgeon populations, however, do support fisheries. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has worked together with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Treaty Tribes to impose size restrictions as well as season and quota restrictions on all sturgeon caught in the Columbia River. The objective of size restrictions is to minimize fishing impacts on large sturgeon that comprise the spawning population. Poaching
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
is also partly responsible for declining numbers.
Fishery management agencies have implemented more restrictive commercial and recreational fishing regulations such as closed areas to protect spawning fish in order to help protect this magnificent creature. These fishery regulations in conjunction with hydrosystem management actions taken by the Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
and restoration funding provided by the Bonneville Power Administration
Bonneville Power Administration
The Bonneville Power Administration is an American federal agency based in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to construct facilities necessary to transmit that power...
will help alleviate the over harvest of Sturgeon and destruction of Sturgeon habitat.
State and tribal fishery managers have experimented with spawning sturgeon artificially and raising sturgeon in hatcheries with the goal of releasing juvenile sturgeon in the upstream areas of the Columbia and Snake Rivers to help rebuild sturgeon populations in these areas. Initial results are promising, but no full scale hatchery production has been funded.