Sturgeon spearing season is underway in some areas of the region. And hook and line fishing is allowed at other times of the year. But to protect the fragile population, the number of fish harvested each year is tightly controlled. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:
Transcript
Sturgeon spearing season is underway in some areas of the region, and hook
and line fishing is allowed at other times of the year, but to protect the
fragile population, the number of fish harvested each year is tightly
controlled. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley
reports:
Over-fishing and habitat problems have plagued the lake sturgeon found
in the Great Lakes. Although the numbers are starting to rebound, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says lake sturgeon are still threatened or
endangered in nearly all areas the species was once found.
Ron Bruch is a sturgeon biologist with the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources. He says the spawning cycle of lake sturgeon is one
reason the population needs to be watched.
“Lake sturgeon don’t spawn until later in life, the females don’t spawn
until they’re 20 to 25 years old, and then they only spawn once every
three to five years.”
Bruch says only about five percent of the adult population of lake
sturgeon should be harvested each year… to avoid a population crash.
He says that compares to nearly 30 percent of the population of most
other game fish.
For the GLRC, I’m Christina Shockley.