Sturgeon

[hoolee99]

IDAHO FISH AND GAME
Headquarters NEWS RELEASE
Boise, ID
Date: March 31, 2014


Contact: Steve Liebenthal
steve.liebenthal@idfg.idaho.gov
(208) 334-3746


More Sturgeon Headed To Snake River

This week, Fishery managers from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game working with the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls and Idaho Power will be stocking sturgeon in the Snake River to augment angling opportunities below C.J. Strike Dam and Swan Falls Dam.

The 10 to 20 inch sturgeon are offspring spawned and raised at the College of Southern Idaho as part of their aquaculture teaching program. Wild adult sturgeon are collected by Idaho Power Company from the Snake River in areas where there is poor spawning success. Eggs are collected via a caesarean method and spawned adult sturgeon are then returned to the Snake River. The program has enhanced sturgeon fisheries from below Swan Falls Dam all the way up the Snake River to Idaho Falls.
One hundred 1-year old sturgeon will be released below C.J. Strike Dam, and three hundred will be released below Swan Falls Dam.

In both reaches, the white sturgeon population has dropped, mostly due to poor water quality, infrequent high spring flows, disrupted temperature regimes and lack of access to quality spawning areas. By planting sturgeon raised at CSI, Fish and Game hopes to maintain a strong enough population to allow anglers to continue participating in the catch-and-release fishery.

For more information on fishing for white sturgeon in Idaho check out this link on the Fish and Game website: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish...ngTips.pdf
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[Idaho]

Good News!!

Idaho
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[idahoron]

Great news!
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[thebug]

glad to hear this i wish they would do 2 reaches every year for a while so that new fish can be constantly introduced into our rivers
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[dtayboyz]

We have lots of healthy breeding fish, what they need are some salmon and steelhead carcasses to munch on.
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[thebug]

that would be preferable to have something better to feed the sturgeons. My thought is that the fish that are getting big enough to start spawning are mostly all relatives that were planted in the 90's some different genetics i feel would benefit the population as a whole. Also in many of the reaches other than the bliss to cj and the hells canyon and below reach the fish are not self sustaining yet and some new age classes of fish would help diversify the population mix from just a bunch of fish that came from CSI in the late 80's-mid 90's.
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[dtayboyz]

All the fish they plant come from wild fish they catch and take to csi hatchery below the cattle sale yards in twin falls. They are required to release x amount of fish back to the wild. This is where commercial fish come from. They populations from Shoshone falls downstream are native reproducing fish. Just hungry due to hells canyon dam. Everything above Shoshone falls are not native they are produced from eggs from csi.
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[thebug]

Idaho Power Company White Sturgeon Stock Assessment
Table 1. Hatchery reared white sturgeon stocked between Bliss and Lower Salmon Falls dams (Source: IDFG 2003).
Year of Release
1989
1991
1994
Brood Year Number
1988 2,195
1990 202
1993 176
Average TL (cm)
33–48
33.3 33–48

Table 2. Hatchery reared white sturgeon stocked between Upper Salmon Falls dam and Shoshone Falls (Source: IDFG 2003).
Year Released
1990
1991
1994
1998
1999
2000
Brood Year Number
1988 171
1990 530
1993 352 (were did all these fish go?)
1997 158
1997 120
Unknown 254
Average TL (cm)
64–68 28–33 38–46 35
35 Unknown


Some of the first sturgeon that were released in the late 80's are reaching spawning size but i do believe that some supplementation would be beneficial to the fishery. The study that these tables came from state that in the shoshone falls-lower salmon falls dam reach 94% of the fish are hatchery fish. They estimate the population around 777. So only 47ish of those fish are wild. And according to the surveys they've done natural recruitment remains low. Self sustaining populations are a bit of a ways off so going back to my original point i think supplementation of different brood parents would help with the genetic diversity of the sturgeon do we don't get a bunch of inbreed fishes.

I agree also that dams that stopped the salmon's upstream migration have also really hurt our fish but i do like cheep electricity and i do enjoy the economic benefits that all the farms in our area provide.

One idea i have to help with the poor food stocks for our sturgeon is have the hatcheries put some of there morts back into the river to help provide a supplemental food source for the sturgeons as well as for the craw fish and other critters that the sturgeon feed on

It a fun thing to contemplate how to help our fishery improve
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[dtayboyz]

I love to watch a fishing pole and discuss this dilemma. I have friends that fish for f&g and Idaho power to measure, tag release. I agree all the morts need to go in the river, but fish farming is going away the water's going to raise corn. Nitrate levels have tripled. I have caught juvenile sturgeon between lower salmon and bliss, but the trout fishing sucks compared to 30 years ago.
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[thebug]

those little guys (10-14inchers) are way fun to see and catch but carful they can cut the living crap out of your hands.

nitrates are a big concern i agree but its hard to say to someone stop supporting your family stop making money stop feeding the cows
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