Displaying items by tag: sturgeon release
Monday, 02 October 2023 14:09
Sturgeonfest 2023
Join in a great event on Saturday, Oct. 7 for Sturgeonfest 2023 where you will have the opportunity to see the release of baby sturgeon into the French Broad River.
When: Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The sturgeon release will begin at 11 a.m. and there are 1,000 baby sturgeon to release.
Due to habitat degradation, barriers to migration, overharvest and pollution, lake sturgeon have been almost extirpated from much of the Southeast US for more than 50 years.
In 2015, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission joined surrounding states in the Southeast Lake Sturgeon Working Group in an effort to restore lake sturgeon to the Tennessee and Cumberland river systems.
Brood stock comes from the Wolf River in Wisconsin, where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to collect eggs and milt for transportation and hatching at the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery in Georgia.After hatching and growing, lake sturgeon are sent to the USFWS National Fish Hatchery at Edenton, N.C. and the Wildlife Commission’s Table Rock State Fish Hatchery for several months before release.
Approximately 2,000-9,000 juvenile lake sturgeon have been stocked annually in the French Broad River since 2015.
Dylan Owensby of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services says lake sturgeon are slow-growing, long-living fish. They might live up to 150 years and can grow more than 6 feet and up to 200 pounds. Females mature at 14 to 33 years of age and reproduce only once every four or more years. Males mature at 8 to 20 years of age. Sturgeon are bottom dwellers feeding on larval insects, crayfish and mollusks.
Learn more about lake sturgeon in the French Broad, watch Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency’s sturgeon reintroduction video and read other Hellbender articles on sturgeon.
If you are an angler in Tennessee and lucky enough to catch a sturgeon, please let TWRA This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. know (as explained in the video linked above) specially if it is a lunker.
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- sturgeonfest
- seven island state bird park boat ramp
- french broad river
- dylan owensby
- southeast lake sturgeon working group
- warm springs national fish hatchery
- sturgeon reintroduction
- sturgeon recovery
- sturgeon release
- us fish and wildlife service
- lake strugeon release
- acipenser fulvescens
- tennesse wildlife resources agency
- twra