Sturgeon efforts hope to breed results
Monday, June 1 2009 | Prince George Citizen
Ray Billings, vice president Freshwater Society of British Columbia shows one of the female white sturgeon from the Nechako River before it is transported by to the Nechako River. Two females were induced to release eggs and three males fertilized the eggs. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
Efforts continue to help recover the stocks of the endangered Nechako white sturgeon, with a recovery effort focusing this summer on determining why newly-hatched fish are not surviving.
Captured sturgeon -- two females and three males -- were used last Friday to produce fertilized eggs in Prince George. Four fish were released during the weekend, while the fifth, a large male, about 80 kilograms, 6.5 metres long, and perhaps 80 years old or more, was released on Monday during a public ceremony in Vanderhoof.
When the eggs from the recent breeding exercise hatch, producing larvae, they will be introduced into the Nechako River to examine their survivability, says Carla Wainwright, co-ordinator for the Nechako White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative.
Solving the mystery of the survival of the recently-hatched larvae, which should grow into juvenile fish, is a key issue in efforts to help the sturgeon survive.
Scientists have already determined the young fish aren't surviving.
And because the majority of fish are 40 years or older, natural death rates are diminishing the number of sturgeon left in the Nechako, a species genetically distinct from sturgeon in the Fraser River.
There are an estimated 350 adults left in the Nechako River system, down from an estimated healthy population of about 8,000.
The diminishing level of sturgeon has been considered a real concern for years now. The prehistoric fish has been on Canada's endangered list since 2006.
As a stop-gap measure to ensure the prehistoric fish does not become extinct, for the past three years juvenile fish have been raised in captivity to about four months of age and then released into the river. About 15,000 young fish have been released, but the program has been halted this year because of a lack of funding.
Just recently, one of the fish reared in captivity was caught in a net. More young fish are expected to be captured going forward, giving some idea of their survival rate, noted Wainwright.
But what is needed, says Wainwright, is for a permanent breeding facility to be built, part of a recovery strategy ready to be put in place.
The $7-million price tag of the proposed facility -- to be built near Vanderhoof -- has been out of reach so far. Last year, the provincial government provided $1.5 million in funding.
Wainwright said time is running out on the sturgeon, and the breeding facility needs to be built in the next couple of years. She notes that if the permanent program is not put in place soon, there will not be enough genetic diversity to help the species survive.
