09-18-2004, 03:13 AM
[#ff0000][size 5]Revival of the sturgeon[/size][/#ff0000] [url "mailto:mmcfeely@forumcomm.com"]By Mike McFeely[/url],The Forum
Published Sunday, September 05, 2004 Arlin Schalekamp held a 6-inch lake sturgeon fingerling in the palm of his hand for several seconds to give interested onlookers a better view of the mottled brown and black fish. True to its size classification, the sturgeon was not much larger than Schalekamp's middle finger.
Then the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources area fisheries manager from Fergus Falls lowered his hand into the shallow water along the shore of Otter Tail Lake and watched as the sturgeon slowly swam away.
Hard to believe, but if all goes well that tiny sturgeon could one day be 6 feet long and weigh 200 pounds.
"That is the long-term goal. And it is a long-term goal because these fish can live to be 100 years old," Schalekamp said.
The DNR released more than 10,000 sturgeons into Otter Tail Lake and the Otter Tail River over two days last week as part of a 20-year plan to reestablish the fish in the Red River watershed. Once fairly common throughout the Red River, Otter Tail River and many lakes in Otter Tail and Becker counties, the lake sturgeon largely disappeared by the turn of the 20th century. [url "javascript:popUp('/articles/full_photo.cfm?id=115123',500,500);"]![[Image: 20040905outdoors-2.jpg]](http://www.in-forum.com/gfx/photos/stories/20040905outdoors-2.jpg)
[/url] Sturgeons are the largest fish swimming in Minnesota waters. Prehistoric in appearance, the fish has a bony spine and bony plates along each side. A bottom dweller, sturgeons have a flat belly and a sucker-like mouth with four barbels protruding like whiskers from under its snout. They are omnivores, feeding on whatever fish and plants it can find.
It is not uncommon for anglers fishing for walleyes in Lake of the Woods or the Rainy River in northern Minnesota to hook a sturgeon.
The fish, however, has been nearly non-existent in west-central and northwestern Minnesota since 1900. The main culprit of its demise was the construction of dams on the Red, the Otter Tail and other rivers in the watershed, which kept the sturgeon from getting to their spawning areas. Pollution, loss of habitat and over harvest also played a role in the fish's demise.
"Because the fish grow so slowly, over time the population dwindles," Schalekamp said. "There might have been a fish here, two there or three over there over the years, but nothing that could sustain itself."
In 1997, the DNR -- working with other agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the White Earth Band of Chippewa -- wrote a sturgeon recovery plan. A main tenet was the removal or modification of low-head dams on the Red and its major tributaries.
Over the past five years, the DNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked with local governments to convert five of the eight dams on the Red River into rock rapids. That included two dams in Fargo. Numerous smaller dams on tributary streams were removed entirely.
"One of the keys to success in the restoration of lake sturgeon in the Red River basin is the removal of barriers that limit the sturgeon's ability to move throughout the watershed," said Henry Drewes, DNR regional fisheries manager in Bemidji.
"With barriers out of the way, sturgeon can now get into tributary streams where the best spawning sites are located."
Sturgeon stocking began in 1998. Last week was the fourth time the DNR released fish into Otter Tail Lake and the Otter Tail River. It plans to stock sturgeon into Big Detroit Lake and the Buffalo River later this year.
The DNR plans to continue stocking the fish until 2018.
"Because it is such a slow-growing, long-living fish, we have to do it over a long period of time to establish different year-classes," Schalekamp said. "Our goal is to eventually have a self-sustaining population again."
The fish stocked last week came from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife hatchery at LaCrosse, Wis. The eggs came from fish in the Rainy River on the Minnesota-Ontario border, where sturgeons have a strong population.
Schalekamp said the DNR doesn't know yet if the stockings are successful because sturgeons don't show up in fish assessments conducted on area lakes every few years. Because sturgeons grow so slowly, it might be years before the DNR nets a fish or an angler catches one while fishing for walleyes or northern pike. But Schalekamp said the DNR is confident the fish will take hold because of the fish's previous history in the Red River watershed.
There is no open season for lake sturgeon on inland lakes and streams or on the Minnesota-North Dakota border waters. Schalekamp said there are currently no plans to have a sturgeon season like the one allowed on the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods.
"We just want to get these fish reestablished. If we can do that, they should have a free shot all along the Red River, the Otter Tail River and even up into the lakes and streams in Becker and Clearwater counties," Schalekamp said. "These fish were once common in those areas and they could be again."
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Published Sunday, September 05, 2004 Arlin Schalekamp held a 6-inch lake sturgeon fingerling in the palm of his hand for several seconds to give interested onlookers a better view of the mottled brown and black fish. True to its size classification, the sturgeon was not much larger than Schalekamp's middle finger.
Then the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources area fisheries manager from Fergus Falls lowered his hand into the shallow water along the shore of Otter Tail Lake and watched as the sturgeon slowly swam away.
Hard to believe, but if all goes well that tiny sturgeon could one day be 6 feet long and weigh 200 pounds.
"That is the long-term goal. And it is a long-term goal because these fish can live to be 100 years old," Schalekamp said.
The DNR released more than 10,000 sturgeons into Otter Tail Lake and the Otter Tail River over two days last week as part of a 20-year plan to reestablish the fish in the Red River watershed. Once fairly common throughout the Red River, Otter Tail River and many lakes in Otter Tail and Becker counties, the lake sturgeon largely disappeared by the turn of the 20th century. [url "javascript:popUp('/articles/full_photo.cfm?id=115123',500,500);"]
[/url] Sturgeons are the largest fish swimming in Minnesota waters. Prehistoric in appearance, the fish has a bony spine and bony plates along each side. A bottom dweller, sturgeons have a flat belly and a sucker-like mouth with four barbels protruding like whiskers from under its snout. They are omnivores, feeding on whatever fish and plants it can find. It is not uncommon for anglers fishing for walleyes in Lake of the Woods or the Rainy River in northern Minnesota to hook a sturgeon.
The fish, however, has been nearly non-existent in west-central and northwestern Minnesota since 1900. The main culprit of its demise was the construction of dams on the Red, the Otter Tail and other rivers in the watershed, which kept the sturgeon from getting to their spawning areas. Pollution, loss of habitat and over harvest also played a role in the fish's demise.
"Because the fish grow so slowly, over time the population dwindles," Schalekamp said. "There might have been a fish here, two there or three over there over the years, but nothing that could sustain itself."
In 1997, the DNR -- working with other agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the White Earth Band of Chippewa -- wrote a sturgeon recovery plan. A main tenet was the removal or modification of low-head dams on the Red and its major tributaries.
Over the past five years, the DNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked with local governments to convert five of the eight dams on the Red River into rock rapids. That included two dams in Fargo. Numerous smaller dams on tributary streams were removed entirely.
"One of the keys to success in the restoration of lake sturgeon in the Red River basin is the removal of barriers that limit the sturgeon's ability to move throughout the watershed," said Henry Drewes, DNR regional fisheries manager in Bemidji.
"With barriers out of the way, sturgeon can now get into tributary streams where the best spawning sites are located."
Sturgeon stocking began in 1998. Last week was the fourth time the DNR released fish into Otter Tail Lake and the Otter Tail River. It plans to stock sturgeon into Big Detroit Lake and the Buffalo River later this year.
The DNR plans to continue stocking the fish until 2018.
"Because it is such a slow-growing, long-living fish, we have to do it over a long period of time to establish different year-classes," Schalekamp said. "Our goal is to eventually have a self-sustaining population again."
The fish stocked last week came from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife hatchery at LaCrosse, Wis. The eggs came from fish in the Rainy River on the Minnesota-Ontario border, where sturgeons have a strong population.
Schalekamp said the DNR doesn't know yet if the stockings are successful because sturgeons don't show up in fish assessments conducted on area lakes every few years. Because sturgeons grow so slowly, it might be years before the DNR nets a fish or an angler catches one while fishing for walleyes or northern pike. But Schalekamp said the DNR is confident the fish will take hold because of the fish's previous history in the Red River watershed.
There is no open season for lake sturgeon on inland lakes and streams or on the Minnesota-North Dakota border waters. Schalekamp said there are currently no plans to have a sturgeon season like the one allowed on the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods.
"We just want to get these fish reestablished. If we can do that, they should have a free shot all along the Red River, the Otter Tail River and even up into the lakes and streams in Becker and Clearwater counties," Schalekamp said. "These fish were once common in those areas and they could be again."
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