Study: Sturgeon Stocks Down Worldwide

A new survey by the Pew Institute for Ocean Science finds sturgeon populations are severely depleted throughout the world, including in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

A new survey by the Pew Institute for Ocean Science finds sturgeon populations are severely depleted throughout the world, including in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:


Sturgeon are called “living fossils” because their bodies are virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. The only species native to this region is the lake sturgeon. Nancy Auer is a fish biologist with Michigan Technological University.


She says sturgeon populations in the Great Lakes dropped severely in the 1850’s because of overfishing and because dams were built that blocked migration routes. She says now there are only a couple of places where sturgeon are somewhat abundant.


“One is the St. Clair River area and Detroit River are and one is up in Lake Superior in the Portage Lake area and these stocks are some of the last ones that have free capacity to range throughout the Great Lakes system.”


Hour says the state of Michigan has closed all sturgeon fisheries in an effort to boost populations. Other Great Lakes states are developing lake sturgeon management plans.


For the GLRC, I’m Erin Toner.

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