Saving Seafood

Long-gone Sturgeon Returning To North Carolina Waters

October 26, 2015 — It’s been nearly 70 years since a species of fish called the Lake Sturgeon has been found in North Carolina waters. Experts say it’s a fish with a long history.

“The lake sturgeon is a very ancient breed of fish,” says Stephen Jackson, a hatchery manager with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in eastern North Carolina. “They were around during the dinosaurs and actually predate many of the dinosaurs that we’re very familiar with.”

The Lake Sturgeon is now poised for a comeback in North Carolina.  It’s home will be the French Broad River in the western part of the state, where wildlife officials on Monday are making the second of two releases over the past week.  The project is placing a total of 7,200 young Lake Sturgeon, about 7 inches long, into the river north of Asheville.  The release is part of a broader effort to restore the species in several states.

Read the full story at WFAE

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Pamlico, Pungo, Neuse and Bay rivers to close to anchored, large-mesh gill nets

September 22, 2015 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

Some rivers and creeks in the central coastal area of North Carolina will close to anchored, large-mesh gill nets at 5 p.m. Thursday due to interactions with Atlantic sturgeon.

The action closes Management Unit C under the state’s Atlantic Sturgeon Incidental Take Permit, which includes the Pamlico, Pungo, Neuse and Bay rivers and their tributaries. The closure impacts all anchored, large-mesh gill nets, including those set under a Recreational Commercial Gear License.

The closure will remain in effect until Dec. 1.

This marks the first management unit closure in North Carolina resulting from interactions with Atlantic sturgeon under the incidental take permit since July 2014.

The action is required by the incidental take permit, which allows for anchored, large-mesh gill net interactions with six Atlantic sturgeon, only two of which can be dead, in Management Unit C during the fall season (Sept. 1- Nov. 30). Once the allowed interactions are approached or met, the waters must close for the remainder of the season.

As of today, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ staff have observed four live and one dead Atlantic sturgeon interactions with anchored, large-mesh gill nets in Management Unit C. The figures that state officials have observed are approaching the legal limit for these kinds of interactions in Management Unit C.

For details of the closure, see Proclamation M-15-2015 at http://www.ncmarinefisheries.net/proclamations.

North Carolina’s estuarine gill net fishery is managed under incidental take permits for sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon. The permits are issued to the state by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The permits authorize limited takes of these species, listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, as part of conservation plans that divide the state’s internal coastal waters into management units. The permits require observer coverage, so that the management units are closely monitored for interactions with sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon. An annual number of allowed interactions with each species is assigned to each gear type in each management unit. If the number of interactions is approached or met, the management unit must close for the remainder of the season or year.

For more information, contact Chris Batsavage, the division’s Protected Resources Section chief, at 252-808-8009 or 252-241-2995, or via email at Chris.Batsavage@ncdenr.gov.

 

An Ancient Fish Is Running Out of Time

September 3, 2015 — From an evolutionary perspective, the pallid sturgeon is a thing of beauty.

Its eyes are a bit beady, it’s true, but good vision is not a prerequisite for living on the bottom of the Missouri River. And its toothless mouth, with its protruding, whiskerlike barbels, is creepy. But these barbels are perfect for sensing food, which it sucks in like a vacuum cleaner.

No, these fish are not sleek and beautiful like trout. But this species of sturgeon, which can grow to a length of six feet and weigh as much as 80 pounds, has managed to survive since the time of the dinosaurs, with fossils dating back some 70 million years.

For all of the adaptations that have enabled this fish to have such a long run, however, the pallid sturgeon is in serious trouble. Twenty-five years ago, the federal government concluded the fish was in imminent danger of extinction and placed it on the endangered species list, where it remains today.

Despite government efforts to expand the population, only perhaps 200 or fewer wild-born pallid sturgeons are thought to inhabit one of its last strongholds — the Montana stretches of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Boy vs. fish: 9-year-old catches huge sturgeon in B.C.

July 2, 2015 — A nine-year-old boy from New Jersey has earned some big bragging rights, after he landed a massive fish 10 times his weight on British Columbia’s Fraser River.

Kegan Rothman hooked the 272-kilogram sturgeon during a B.C. fishing trip with his dad. The boy says he struggled with the fish for two hours before he finally managed to reel it in.

“I felt like I was going to pass out,” he told CTV Vancouver. “I really didn’t think I was going to make it, but I actually did.”

Read the full story and watch the video at CTV News