What are the Sturgeon facing?

Despite having survived for millions of years, the pallid sturgeon are in trouble! Thanks to human effects on their habitats, the pallid sturgeon populations have seen a massive decline throughout their range since the 1960s (US Fish and Wildlife, 2014). Sturgeon have been overfished and overharvested for their roe or caviar and most of their habitat has been altered by river channelization, construction of impoundments, and changes in water flow. These changes in the sturgeon habitat have harmed the sturgeon immensely, and now we’re hoping that efforts can be invested into the preservation of the sturgeon instead of their destruction. Sturgeon are built to navigate the swift and turbid water at the bottom of the rivers, when their natural habitat is obstructed and altered by human activities, the sturgeon are not set-up for successful and happy lives. 

Dams and reservoirs on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers have deeply impacted the development of young sturgeon. Pallid sturgeon embryos are designed to float unrestricted downstream, however, when the rivers are blocked by reservoirs and dams, the young sturgeon get trapped in pockets of deoxygenated water and die (Culprit Identified in Decline of Endangered Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon, 2015). The image above, from the New York Times article “An ancient fish is running out of time” by Chris Hunter, shows locations of the dams on the Missouri and Mississippi that kill newly hatched sturgeon. Dams also separate the sturgeon from their breeding grounds, food sources and change water temperatures, which make it harder for the sturgeon to survive. 

The pallid sturgeon is a k-selected species, this means that they are a slow-growing species with lifetimes similar to those of humans. They can live for up to 60 years and must survive through several years of adolescence before they can reproduce. These fish are already vulnerable due to their long life span and slow rates of reproduction, and the obstacles that humans have built in their way have not assisted them in survival.