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| Crew holding adult lake sturgeon. Photo: James Boase, USFWS |
People like you and me. Organizations and governments. Community and conservation groups. Private citizens and generous corporate sponsors - all pitch in to help the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) protect and restore the biological diversity of the Great Lakes. It takes all of us working in close partnerships to make this happen under the umbrella of the Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COA).
What is a lake sturgeon?
It looks prehistoric – even ready for battle with rows of thick armour-like plates instead of scales. In some senses the lake sturgeon, is prehistoric, since it dates back to the age of the dinosaurs. It is also one of Ontario’s largest and longest-lived fish and one of more than 20 species of sturgeon world-wide. But it is one of only three kinds that spends its entire life in freshwater. A single lake sturgeon can grow up to three metres in length and weigh more than 150 kilograms and survive for up to 100 years.
First Nations communities fished for lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes for thousands of years. However after the arrival of the early settlers, sturgeon numbers began to dwindle. At first, the settlers viewed these huge fish as a nuisance because they would get tangled in their fishing nets. Later, the settlers considered them a useful commodity because they were so plentiful. They dried the fish to use as fuel for steamboats running on rivers like Lake Erie’s Detroit River. Sturgeon were also gathered for their roe – the basis of caviar which was and is still a very popular delicacy around the world.
What happened to these big fish?
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| Richard Drouin |
Richard Drouin, Lake Erie Management Unit Assessment Supervisor says “Several things worked against the sturgeons’ survival in the Great Lakes. First it was their very size and slow-growth – it takes 15 to 25 years for one of these enormous fish to mature and reproduce … and reproduction rates are low. Then fishing took its toll – as with many things, people just believed there was an endless supply.”
He adds that when hydro dams were built along rivers that feed the Great Lakes, it slowed the fast-running water required by sturgeon for spawning. As well development and industry grew and expanded around the lakes with no understanding that the waste people were producing as a result, was damaging all ecosystems. Silted spawning beds, pollution and eventually illegal poaching also took their toll.
By the ’30s, lake sturgeon populations in the Great Lakes had declined by 80 per cent. In Lake Erie, particularly in the Detroit River, sturgeon numbers were affected directly by loss of habitat due to dredging and other construction associated with building new shipping channels and ever-increasing shoreline development.
Today’s lake sturgeon population is only one per cent of what it was in the Great Lakes region in the 1800s. The species is currently listed as threatened on the Species at Risk in Ontario list.
Partners are helping restore sturgeon
However the good news is that people are learning from the mistakes of the past. They are now trying to return the lake sturgeon to the Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Erie.
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| Larval trawl. Photo: James Boase, USFWS |
This requires restoration of the sturgeon’s habitat. MNR staff have joined with a number of enthusiastic partners who are focusing particularly on the Detroit River
A cross-border federation of corporations has joined forces with Ministry staff – especially those working within the COA mandate – to bring the sturgeon back.
Together, they have built a 150-metre-long spawning shoal off Fighting Island in the Detroit River, downstream from Windsor.
This cooperative effort was the first fish habitat restoration project funded by both the U.S. and Canada in the Great Lakes.
Everyone involved has been very excited to learn that since the spawning shoal was constructed, monitoring has revealed that spawning is actually taking place:
• Spawning-ready adult lake sturgeon were sighted in the spring of 2009 and 2010
• Viable sturgeon eggs and larvae were collected in the spring 2009
• Young sturgeon were collected during bottom trawls conducted downstream of the shoal in July
2010.
These are all positive signs that lake sturgeon are successfully reproducing on this man-made spawning shoal. It is a beginning, but a hopeful one for the sturgeon and for other fish species that will reap the rewards of this new habitat.
There is a lot more we can learn about this project and how we can get involved, please log onto:
• Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan• Detroit River Area of Concern
Key partners, supporters and sponsors
• The International Joint Commission
• Environment Canada
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources
• The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy
• The U.S. Geological Survey
• Michigan Sea Grant
• BASF Chemical Company (which owns Fighting Island)
• Detroit Edison Energy
• The Great Lakes Science Center
• The Great Lakes Renewal Foundation
• The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup
• Essex County Stewardship Network
• Essex Region Conservation Authority
• International and local conservation organizations and private citizens and environmentalists
