It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
A fragment of a 72-million-year-old sturgeon has been unearthed in Edmonton’s River Valley.
The discovery was made by hikers in Capilano Park in February 2023.
What they thought might be a fragment of dinosaur skin turned out to be a skull belonging to an ancient sturgeon.
Researchers at the University of Alberta believe the fish would have been two metres long when it was alive.
This is the first new species of fossil fish discovered within Edmonton, according to researchers, who have named the species Boreiosturion labyrinthicus. The name references the labyrinth or maze-like patterns on the skull.
Luke Nelson, co-author of a study recently published about the find, said the most interesting thing about the new sturgeon fossil is the distinct patterns on the back of its skull.
“There are three unique patterns, different from anything previously described from the time period,” Nelson said. “This is from a part of the Cretaceous Period from which we didn’t have any North American sturgeon before."
Sturgeons are found in North American freshwater environments and still exist and live in the North Saskatchewan River as a protected species.
The freshwater Horseshoe Canyon Formation, where Capilano Park now lies, took shape roughly 72.2 to 73 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.
U of A researchers say this fossil fills a gap in what is known about the distribution of sturgeons during the end of the Cretaceous Period, before the mass extinction event that wiped out dinosaurs.
The discovery also fills a geographical gap between the fish being found in southern Alberta, Montana and North Dakota, and Alaska and Peace River farther north.
“One really cool thing about this fossil is that it represents an ancestor of something that we have still alive today," Nelson explained. "We still have sturgeons in Edmonton. We have lake sturgeons, which are pretty large species of sturgeons around two metres in length.
“It’s very cool to learn more about the evolutionary history of the species that we still have around today.”
Nelson urged anyone who comes upon something they believe may be a fossil of any kind to contact the U or A or the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
"It could be of very big importance to paleontology as a field," he said. “Our goal as paleontologists is to kind of piece together a larger picture of how the world was back in time.
“With this, we can gain more knowledge about the ecosystem in general. If this was just sitting in someone’s house, that would just not be doing the same amount of purpose. So I think it is really important if you find something you think is cool, call it in.”
Nelson also stressed the importance of preserving the current sturgeon in the North Saskatchewan River.
“They’re some of the largest bony fish we have today and have been around since dinosaurs were walking around on land,” he said. “They almost look like dinosaurs, because they’ve got these massive sizes and enormous scales running down their back that make them look kind of wicked.”
The sturgeon skull is now being housed in the U of A’s laboratory for vertebrate paleontology.
Sturgeon couldSHOULD be listed as endangered species, but Wisconsin’s congressional reps want an exemption. Here’s why.
Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A bipartisan group of Wisconsin's congressional delegation has urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to exempt lake sturgeon in the state from any potential listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The agency is conducting a status review of lake sturgeon in the U.S. to determine if listing is warranted; it is scheduled to release its findings by June 30, 2024.
A federal listing under the ESA could prohibit angling for or spearing the fish in Wisconsin. The state hosts annual hook-and-line and spearing seasons for lake sturgeon managed by the Department of Natural Resources.
It a statement issued Dec. 7 the six U.S. representatives and two senators highlighted the robust sturgeon population in Wisconsin, the strong state-based management program as well as the cultural, ecological and economical values of the fish.
"Nowhere in the world will you find such a unique cultural connection and staunch dedication to the preservation of sturgeon population levels than in Wisconsin," the group wrote. "In fact, due to such careful management, populations in the state thrive and allow for a sustainable spear harvest season on the Winnebago System every winter. We are concerned that a potential listing of the species under the Endangered Species Act could curtail this successful, science-based management model as well as threaten a cherished and unique Wisconsin tradition."
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, whose district includes part of the Winnebago System, led the effort on the statement. It was also signed by Republican Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman,, Bryan Steil, Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden as well as Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.
In 2018 the USFWS received a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity requesting the agency list the lake sturgeon range-wide or as several distinct population segments.
The next year the agency concluded the petition presented "substantial scientific or commercial information indicating listing may be warranted" and initiated a status review process, according to a statement from Melissa Clark, USFWS public affairs specialist.
The USFWS is actively engaged in the review and is gathering and referencing the "best scientific and commercial data available, which includes information regarding States’ management practices for lake sturgeon throughout the range of the species," Clark said.
Lake sturgeon are one of the oldest fish species in North America and are native to at least two dozen states in the central, southern and eastern U.S. according to the USFWS. In Wisconsin they are found in Lakes Michigan and Superior as well as the Wisconsin, Chippewa and Flambeau, Wolf and Fox rivers, among others.
The Wisconsin congressional delegation said the importance of the prehistoric fish is rooted in the Menominee Tribe’s strong cultural ties to the lake sturgeon. The tribe includes sturgeon in its creation story and also relied on the fish as a food source.
The species declined over the last century in many parts of its historical range due to pollution, overfishing and loss of access to spawning habitat.
But several populations are exceptions, including the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair in Lake Huron in Michigan, the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and the Winnebago System in Wisconsin, said Ron Bruch, retired DNR fisheries director and former sturgeon biologist.
After a period of closed seasons in the early 20th Century due to concerns of overharvest, the sturgeon population in the Winnebago System (lakes Butte des Morts, Poygan, Winnebago and Winneconne and the Fox and Wolf rivers) has grown to become one of the largest in the world, Bruch said.
Fisheries staff with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service net a lake sturgeon for processing at Bamboo Bend on the Wolf River in Shiocton. The fish were measured, sexed and had a passive integrated transponder (PIT tag) implanted and then released back to the river.
The DNR establishes a sturgeon population estimate each year using a mark and recapture process. In 2022 the population was estimated at 12,304 adult females and 24,061 adult males, as well as an undetermined number of juvenile fish, according to the DNR sturgeon stock assessment report.
And strict regulations limit the harvest of sturgeon to ensure the health of the population, Bruch said.
"The sturgeon population in the Winnebago System is as large now as any time after settlement times," Bruch said. "It's strong and naturally-reproducing. In no way is it threatened or endangered."
The two-week sturgeon spearing season is responsible for an estimated $3.5 million economic impact and sturgeon conservation is a major part in the over $200 million annual impact fishing brings to the Winnebago System, according to the Wisconsin congressional members.
In 2023 the DNR sold 13,219 sturgeon spearing licenses and 1,405 sturgeon were registered over the 16-day spearing season in February on the Winnebago System.
A hook-and-line sturgeon season is held in fall on many major river systems in the state. Anglers are allowed to keep one fish per year but most fishing is catch-and-release. The statewide harvest of sturgeon during the fall season has averaged 33 fish over the last 15 years, according to the DNR. The hook-and-line season is not held on the Winnebago System.
Money raised from the sale of sturgeon spearing and fishing licenses is used to fund Wisconsin sturgeon management programs.
A representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, the organization that asked for the review, said it's most likely the most imperiled populations – Lake Superior, Missouri River, Ohio River, Arkansan-White River, and lower Mississippi, in their view – would get listed.
"The loss of lake sturgeon has been analogous to the slaughter of the buffalo," said Jeff Miller, senior conservation advocate for CBD. "Now there are only nine populations in entire U.S. with more than 1,000 adult fish."
However, Miller said his group doesn't oppose a DNR-managed harvest season in the Winnebago System.
"We don’t see any problem with the short spear-fishing fishery in the Lake Winnebago System and the Upriver Lakes," Miller said. "It hosts a large population of lake sturgeon, and there are strict regulations and quotas."
But the CBD would like to see added protections for sturgeon in other parts of Wisconsin, including lakes Michigan and Superior and their tributaries as well as the Chippewa River.
Lake sturgeon swim along the rocky shore of the Wolf River at Bamboo Bend in Shiocton. The fish congregate at the site to spawn in spring.
If lake sturgeon were listed under the ESA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could still allow state fisheries to hold harvest seasons with a fish management plan that is consistent with recovery.
The Wisconsin congressional members asked the Service to to take into "strong consideration the conservation success story of the species in Wisconsin."
"Instead of imposing a nationwide, one-size-fits-all listing that could curtail the state’s management plan and threaten a long-cherished tradition, we ask that Wisconsin lake sturgeon be exempt from any potential ESA listing," they wrote. "Furthermore, we encourage the Service to engage with the Wisconsin DNR, local communities, and other relevant stakeholders to help expand this model to other states and ensure the continued existence of lake sturgeon for generations to come."
The statement by members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation follows an October letter with a similar message signed by 29 members of the state legislature.
A public comment period will be held after the Service issues its findings in June 2024.
"John Harrington caught this GAR-gantuan alligator gar out of the Trinity River on July 18 with a rod and reel," the TPWD wrote in its Facebook announcement.
"He earned an Outstanding Angler Award for his incredible catch," the post continued. "The gar was released to swim another day."
Exact measurements of Harrington’s alligator gar are not known since the fish was caught and released, a spokesperson for the TPWD told Fox News Digital.
"The angler did not have any weight or length data that we could verify, so he earned an Outstanding Angler Award to commemorate his amazing catch," the TPWD’s spokesperson wrote in an email.
Alligator gars are a ray-finned fish that can tolerate a wide range of salinity, according to multiple wildlife encyclopedias and glossaries.
Fish identification guides published by the TPWD state that alligator gar have "short" and "wide" snouts that have a "distinct" appearance, which many say resembles that of an alligator when viewed from above.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife reports that alligator gar are species that's "as old as the dinosaurs" and lives in rivers, reservoirs and estuaries throughout the state.
"Alligator gar can be huge, reaching lengths of up to 10 feet and weighing over 300 pounds," the TPWD wrote in its "How to Identify Alligator Gar" webpage.
"It is the second-largest freshwater fish in North America, second only to the white sturgeon," the TPWD continued.
In May 2023, the TPWD recognized a Texas angler for breaking the alligator gar record in Lake Corpus Christi with a 90-inch, 207-pound catch.
Paul Hefner of Texas caught a 7.5-foot alligator gar from Lake Corpus Christi, Texas, which broke the local fishing record for alligator gar.
The Texas state record for an alligator gar caught by rod-and-reel is 279 pounds, and it was established on Jan. 1, 1951, by angler Bill Valverde, who caught the fish from the Rio Grande.
The TPWD also has verified records of alligator gar that have been caught with various methods, including fly rods (56.25 inches, 40.7 pounds), bow and arrows (96 inches, 290 pounds), catch-and-release rod-and-reels (89 inches) and other means (302 pounds, 90 inches).
The current world record for the largest alligator gar belongs to Kenny Williams of Vicksburgh, Mississippi, who accidentally caught a 327-pound alligator gar that was over 8 feet in length from Lake Chotard in 2011, according to the TPWD.
The alligator gar got tangled in Williams’ fishing net before he caught it with a rod and reel. Experts estimated the world-record fish was around 95 years old.
A reconstruction of a single sturgeon scute, close up. Bone-forming cells are marked in magenta. Credit: J. Stundl
About 350 million years ago, your evolutionary ancestors—and the ancestors of all modern vertebrates—were merely soft-bodied animals living in the oceans. In order to survive and evolve to become what we are today, these animals needed to gain some protection and advantage over the ocean's predators, which were then dominated by crustaceans.
The evolution of dermal armor, like the sharp spines found on an armored catfish or the bony diamond-shaped scales, called scutes, covering a sturgeon, was a successful strategy. Thousands of species of fish utilized varying patterns of dermal armor, composed of bone and/or a substance called dentine, an important component of modern human teeth. Protective coatings like these helped vertebrates survive and evolve further into new animals and ultimately humans.
But where did this armor come from? How did our ancient underwater ancestors evolve to grow this protective coat?
Now, using sturgeon fish, a new study finds that a specific population of stem cells, called trunk neural crest cells, are responsible for the development of bony scutes in fish. The work was conducted by Jan Stundl, now a Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Marianne Bronner, the Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech. A paper describing the research appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on July 17.
The Bronner laboratory has long been interested in studying neural crest cells. Found in all vertebrates including fish, chickens, and ourselves, these cells become specialized based on whether they arise from the head (cranial) or spinal cord (trunk) regions. Both cranial and trunk neural crest cells migrate from their starting points throughout the animal's developing body, giving rise to the cells that make up the jaws, heart, and other important structures.
After a 2017 study from the University of Cambridge showed that trunk neural crest cells give rise to dentine-based dermal armor in a type of fish called the little skate, Stundl and his colleagues hypothesized that the same population of cells might also give rise to bone-based armor in vertebrates broadly.
To study this, Stundl and the team turned to the sturgeon fish, specifically the sterlet sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus). Modern sturgeons, best known for their production of the world's most expensive caviar, still have many of the same characteristics as their ancestors from millions of years ago. This makes them prime candidates for evolutionary studies.
Jan Stundl holds a sturgeon fish in the laboratory. Credit: J. Stundl
Using sturgeon embryos grown at the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology in the Czech Republic, Stundl and his team used fluorescent dye to track how the fish's trunk neural crest cells migrated throughout its developing body. Sturgeons begin to develop their bony scutes after a couple of weeks, so the researchers kept the growing fish in a darkened lab in order to not disturb the fluorescent dye with light.
The team found fluorescently labeled trunk neural crest cells in the exact locations where the sturgeon's bony scutes were forming. They then used a different technique to highlight the fish's osteoblasts, a type of cell that forms bone. Genetic signatures associated with osteoblast differentiation were found in the fluorescent cells in the fish's developing scutes, providing strong evidence that the trunk neural crest cells do in fact give rise to bone-forming cells.
Combined with the 2017 findings about neural crest cells' role in forming dentine-based armor, the work shows that trunk neural crest cells are indeed responsible for giving rise to the bony dermal armor that enabled the evolutionary success of vertebrate fish.
"Working with non-model organisms is tricky; the tools that exist in standard lab organisms like mouse or zebrafish either do not work or need to be significantly adapted," says Stundl. "Despite these challenges, information from non-model organisms like sturgeon allows us to answer fundamental evolutionary developmental biology questions in a rigorous manner."
"By studying many animals on the tree of life, we can infer what evolutionary events have taken place," says Bronner. "This is particularly powerful if we can approach evolutionary questions from a developmental biology perspective, since many changes that led to diverse cell types occurred via small alterations in embryonic development."
The paper is titled "Ancient vertebrate dermal armor evolved from trunk neural crest."
More information: Jan Stundl et al, Ancient vertebrate dermal armor evolved from trunk neural crest, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221120120
VIDEO: FIRST EVER STURGEON TO BE FOUND IN AFRICAview more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
A fossil of a ‘royal fish’ - estimated to be over 66 million years old - is the first ever to be found in Africa.
Sturgeon have historically been found in the cooler waters of the Northern Hemisphere, excluding Africa, but this specimen was discovered in Morocco by a University of Portsmouth palaeontologist.
The discovery of this fossil in Africa is particularly significant because it is the first of its kind to be found on the continent, suggesting that sturgeons were once more widespread than previously thought.
Professor David Martill noticed the fossil when he was visiting a well-known Moroccan fossil site during a field trip last November. He said: “I found a piece of rock with bucklers, the bony external plates found on these heavily armoured fish, and I knew straight away it was a sturgeon.
“It was a surprising discovery because all sturgeon species have been exclusively found in the Northern Hemisphere in the past. They’ve been located in North America, Europe, Russian Asia, Chinese Asia, but never in South America, Australia, Africa or India, which are the land masses that made up Gondwana, a supercontinent that existed around 336 million years ago and began breaking up around 150 million years ago.”
Sturgeons have long been valued for their meat and row, which are eaten as caviar. But as a result of overfishing, along with habitat loss, many species are critically endangered. And several are on the verge of extinction in the wild.
Professor Martill said: “Russian beluga caviar is one of the most expensive in the world. Little did we know that at one time an extremely rare African sturgeon could have been a source of this delicacy!”
Sturgeon are often regarded as a living fossil because their ancestors date back to the same time that dinosaurs roamed, over 200 million years ago. They can grow up to seven metres in length and reach a weight of 1.5 tonnes, although such sizes are exceedingly rare today.
In 1324 King Edward II declared them to be royal fish and any found in the waters around England and Wales are technically still owned by the British monarchy, along with whales and dolphins.
Professor Martill added: “The very first sturgeons appear in the fossil record in the late Triassic period in China. But the oldest true sturgeon ever discovered is probably a specimen in the Steve Etches collection from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast in England, which is mentioned in a book Steve and I wrote about fossils in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation.
“This new Moroccan species complicates models of the location of the origin of this important group of fish that is typically so widespread in the Northern Hemisphere.”
The specimen is now in the collection of the University King Hassan II, Casablanca. The paper is published in Cretaceous Research.
Why whale deaths are dividing environmentalists — and firing up Tucker Carlson
Wayne Parry/AP Photo
Ry Rivard Sun, January 29, 2023 Dead whales are usually a sure-fire way to unite environmentalists — but not in New Jersey.
Instead, a recent spate of beached whales in the Northeast is exposing rifts among activists, energizing Republicans and threatening to complicate one of President Joe Biden’s top energy goals.
Since December, at least nine whales have been stranded on beaches in New Jersey and New York. The deaths are happening as pre-construction work ramps up on offshore wind farms, which are a key part of the nation and New Jersey's climate change strategy.
There is no evidence the wind work and whale deaths are linked. But Clean Ocean Action, a 40-year-old nonprofit, believes the two things happening at once may be more than just a fluke.
Real or rhetorical, the claim is stirring a new political debate.
The group, which has been one of the few environmental organizations to criticize offshore wind, is using the whale deaths to push for a halt of offshore wind development until officials can figure out what is going on. Its message is spreading.
Clean Ocean Action is now a strange bedfellow with conservative media figure Tucker Carlson, six Republican lawmakers in the New Jersey Legislature who represent coastal districts and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), who co-chairs the congressional offshore wind caucus and is its only Republican member.
Carlson is running a series of segments called “The Biden Whale Extinction.” In mid-January, he called wind energy “the DDT of our time” and a guest on the show said, without offering specific evidence, that wind developers’ survey ships were “carpet bombing the ocean floor with intense sound” that would confuse whales.
Van Drew has called on Gov. Phil Murphy to pause offshore wind activity in New Jersey.
“Since offshore wind projects were being proposed by Governor Murphy to be built off the coast of New Jersey, I have been adamantly opposed to any activity moving forward until research disclosed the impacts these projects would have on our environment and the impacts on the fishing industry,” Van Drew, whose South Jersey district includes several coastal counties, said in a statement.
Murphy, like the president, has made offshore wind a key component of his clean energy plans.
At least one moderate Democrat is expressing hesitation, too. New Jersey state Sen. Vin Gopal, who represents part of coastal Monmouth County, said he’s “very concerned” about any ties between wind and the whales.
The political headache couldn’t come at a worse time for the offshore wind industry, which is already struggling to finance wind farms, including Ocean Wind 1, which would be New Jersey’s first.
Biden has set a national goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, enough energy to power 10 million homes, and Murphy set a state level goal of 11 gigawatts by 2040. To achieve these goals, developers in New Jersey and other states will need to quickly install hundreds of giant wind turbines miles off the coast. So far, just one major project in the region, the South Fork wind farm in New York, has broken ground.
Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf said she has no evidence to tie the whale deaths to offshore wind, beyond that there is an unprecedented number of whales dying on beaches and an unprecedented amount of offshore wind work getting underway. But there’s also no evidence to prove there isn’t a connection.
For years, Zipf’s group has argued the federal government has skimped on monitoring new wind infrastructure planned for the ocean and isn’t certain of the effect sonic mapping of the ocean floor and an increase in ship traffic will have.
Wind supporters from the New Jersey chapters of the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters say talk of a connection with whales is baseless and no reason to stop the development of clean energy. They say an already-warming ocean is a known threat to whales and clean power from wind energy could help stop climate change.
Federal regulators from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave offshore wind supporters a hand by telling reporters last week that there is no evidence construction would exacerbate or compound whale deaths. The kind of sound surveys being done by offshore wind companies has not been linked to stranded whales, they said.
BOEM has been monitoring an unusual number of whale deaths since 2016 and found that about 40 percent of the animals they examined were struck by some ship or entangled in fishing gear. Those sorts of threats are old but may become more common because whales are following their prey closer to shore — something that may be a result of climate change.
There are no wind farms off the New Jersey coast yet, though surveys of the seafloor using sound have been conducted.
Worries that sonic mapping might be affecting whales’ navigation are overblown, said Erica Staaterman, an expert at the federal government’s Center for Marine Acoustics. Staaterman said during the call with reporters that there’s a “pretty big difference” between the relatively brief and targeted sound mapping used by offshore wind and the very loud sounds used by oil and gas companies to take measurements deep beneath the seafloor.
She didn't make it explicit, but there is a political point there: if conservative media is so concerned about the whales, why are they opposed to offshore wind but pushing offshore drilling?
Because it isn’t clear why the whales are dying, the absence of evidence is being used as evidence of regulatory absence.
“It doesn’t seem to me that they have conducted very much review of anything, which is what we’re calling for,” Zipf said in an interview after the media briefing by federal regulators.
Other environmental groups like the Sierra Club have been scrambling to tamp down the speculation and undo the notion that offshore wind is killing whales. At the same time, they're trying to point out hypocrisy among offshore wind’s foes.
“I wouldn’t call for commercial shipping to stop because I know it’s unreasonable. It’s trade. I know it’s not going to stop,” New Jersey Sierra Club Director Anjuli Ramos-Busot said in an interview. “So I find it unreasonable to call for the pause or moratorium on offshore wind — which is going to save us all.”
Last year, the East Coast’s largest port, the Port of New York and New Jersey, saw nearly 3,000 ships come and go, a figure that vastly undercounts all the ocean traffic in the region and dwarfs the number of vessels that have anything to do with offshore wind.
In New Jersey, Murphy’s offshore wind hopes are already meeting headwinds because of basic economics.
Orsted, the Danish developer behind what would be New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm, said late last year it’s worried about making money on the project and other large projects approved in other states.
The state Board of Public Utilities, which controls Orsted’s return on the project, has received well over 100 public comments since December opposing offshore wind and citing whale deaths.
At a press conference organized by the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, Jody Stewart of the New Jersey Organization Project, a group formed after Hurricane Sandy to help with recovery and to protect shores from extreme weather, said if there is any investigation it should be of the coordinated industry campaign to “stir up opposition among locals.”
“They’re the ones taking this narrative of whales dying because of offshore wind and running with it — not regular people, not people who live here,” she said.
That’s a harder criticism to pin on Clean Ocean Action, which was founded to fight ocean dumping and does beach cleanups, opposes offshore drilling and helped block liquefied natural gas facilities along the New Jersey coast.
There is some evidence, from inland waterways, that the federal government has advanced wind-related projects without fully exploring the threat new shipping routes pose to wildlife.
Last summer, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network alleged federal fisheries officials ignored how construction and operation of a New Jersey port being created to help the wind industry could harm fish, especially a rare type of Atlantic sturgeon in the river. In an email later obtained by the group, federal officials appeared to acknowledge they hadn’t used the best available information about how boats might kill river sturgeon. But that didn’t halt construction at the wind port.
Privately, offshore wind supporters wonder if Clean Ocean Action’s argument is more about NIMBYism than environmentalists.
Zipf rejects this.
“Clean Ocean Action’s mission is solely to protect the ocean, that is our mission, and, you know, being a voice for the ocean oftentimes makes us a lone voice for a period of time until others understand the scope and the threat to the ocean is a threat to us all,” she said.
Wednesday, December 07, 2022
SOS SAVE OUR STURGEON Angler Catches Super-Rare 'Dinosaur' Fish in Kansas River, Throws It Back
Story by Pandora Dewan • Yesterday An extremely rare species of fish was recently caught in the Kansas River by an angler. This was only the 16th reported catch of the endangered lake sturgeon in Kansas in over 25 years, the state's Department of Wildlife and Parks said.
The department shared the news of the catch in a post on Facebook. "I knew I had a special fish once I landed this fish," fisherman Kevin Zirjacks said in response to the post. "Never thought I would ever see one of these dinosaurs, let alone be able to actually hold one. Definitely a catch I will remember for the rest of my life."
After taking photos with the fish, Kirjacks released it back into the water.
Lake sturgeon can be found throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Mississippi River. They are the oldest and largest species native to the Great Lakes, first appearing in the fossil record about 135 million years ago, 70 years before the dinosaurs went extinct.
Lake sturgeon themselves can live very long lives, with females reportedly living for as long as 150 years, the National Wildlife Federation said. They are also massive, growing up to 6.5 feet long and weighing up to 200 pounds.
Before the 19th century, lake sturgeon were abundant throughout the Great Lakes. However, overfishing in the 1800s and 1900s dramatically reduced their populations. Today, the species is dwindling in its northern territories, and it is considered endangered in the southern parts of its range.
Efforts to reintroduce this freshwater fish have been slow because of their long life cycle. Females usually do not start producing eggs until they are at least 20 years old.
Zirjacks detailed how he used special equipment to avoid injuring the endangered fish. "The green thing is an unhooking cradle," he said, referring to the green tarpaulin seen in his photograph. "It's a great tool when catch and release fishing. Gives you a padded place to put your fish after landing them.
"It's raised off the ground to keep them nice and clean.... Makes handling the fish way easier and lets you get them back in the water quicker. Really comes in handy when handling bigger fish," he said.
While efforts continue to attempt to revive this population, the lake sturgeon is facing other environmental threats. Water pollution and invasive aquatic species have made their habitats less hospitable, and climate change is expected to decrease the quality and quantity of nursery and spawning sites and exacerbate existing problems.
White sturgeon-Columbia River’s largest anadromous fish
Thu, December 1, 2022 Wild Files: It’s our Nature By Chadd Cawson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sturgeon have been around for over 200 million years, working their way through the waters while dinosaurs roamed the earth. Like salmon they are an anadromous fish with 27 species worldwide and are the primary source for the delicacy caviar. White sturgeon are the largest anadromous fish in Canada and are only found in B.C. They can be easily identified from the dual rows of four to eight ganoid bony plates and despite their name are often a grey or brownish shade on their dorsal side. They have barbels which are located near the snout anterior to their mouths.
Seen swimming in many of our Columbia Valley waterways such as our upper Columbia River, and some of it’s tributaries like Arrow, Slocan, and Kootenay lake to name a few. White sturgeon is native to the Pacific coast which is why they are only found throughout B.C. but unlike their swimming buddies, Pacific salmon white sturgeon do not die upon spawning and often live to be over years 100 old.
When it comes to their own diet they feed on shellfish, crustaceans, small fish like herring and shad, insects, and gastropods but aside from humans can also make a tasty dinner for sharks, sea lions and other marine mammals. In the sturgeon world males mature faster sexually than females and are ready to spawn between the age of 12 and 18 years old. For female white sturgeon they don’t reach their full maturity to spawn until they reach between 25 and 30 years old.
Female sturgeon has many suitors and will have their eggs fertilized by many males during spawning season which happens between May and July. When a female releases her eggs, they develop an adhesive coat and are negatively buoyant upon contact with water. Dependent on the water’s temperature hatching of these eggs can take anywhere from three to 13 days. After the egg incubates, they go through the larvae and fry stage before becoming a juvenile sturgeon which at that time can become more independent with it swimming and feeding. This their last stage before maturing into full adults, when first becoming juveniles, they are typically only 10 cm long.
Quite a catch White sturgeon have a reputation for being a challenge to catch. They can reach lengths of up to 610 cm with an average mass weighing over 500 kg. White sturgeon are considered quite rare with data showing they have seen quite a population decline over the last 30 years. Schools, or groups of white sturgeon are made up of seniors these days rounding the age of a century as they navigate the waters, one could say they are old school. When one does reel one of these remarkable ancient beauties in on the Columbia River it is intended to be recreational with an expectation to catch and release. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has assessed White Sturgeon in B.C. as threatened with declines particularly in both the Fraser and Columbia River.
Fish tales
All fish are vital to Indigenous people for their survival and sustainability. While sturgeon may not be considered as sacred as salmon, they still certainly hold their place. In some cultures, and folklore, the Sturgeon Moon is connected to how abundant sturgeon once were, and easy to catch come the end of summer. Because of the sheer size of sturgeon, a single catch would feed many. On record the largest white sturgeon ever caught dates to the 1800’s and weighed just over 680 kg, and needed the aid of horses to reel it in. Chadd Cawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Columbia Valley Pioneer
B.C. First Nations seek action on sturgeon deaths, after court blamed declines on dam
VANCOUVER — Three British Columbia First Nations want the provincial and federal governments to live up to a nine-month-old court decision that said there is "overwhelming" evidence a dam on the Nechako River is killing endangered sturgeon.
They are highlighting the ruling after scientists asked the public in September for help in solving the mysterious deaths of 11 adult sturgeon found in the Nechako River in central B.C.
The Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said the fish showed no visible external injuries and their deaths were not caused by disease, chemical exposure, angling or gillnet fisheries.
However, the Nechako First Nations claim mismanagement of the river and the dam reservoir are behind the deaths, saying quick action is needed to protect their rights and the sturgeon, which the court said were in “a decline so severe that the species is currently at risk of imminent extirpation.”
In the 1950s, the B.C. government authorized the Aluminum Company of Canada, now Rio Tinto Alcan, to build the Kenney Dam and a 233-kilometre-long reservoir on the river for hydropower generation to smelt its product.
Two of the Nechako First Nations, the Saik’uz and Stellat’en, sued the governments and Rio Tinto Alcan for the decades of losses to their fisheries, the lands, waters and rights.
The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in January that while Rio Tinto Alcan has complied with every contract it signed and abided by all terms on its water licence, the "failure" came from the governments who settled on insufficient requirements to protect the fish of the Nechako.
The judge ruled the Saik’uz and Stellat’en nations have an Aboriginal right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes in the Nechako River watershed and that both the provincial and federal governments have an obligation to protect that right. Justice Nigel Kent said it was a fact that the Kenney Dam's installation and operation were behind the "recruitment failure" of the Nechako white sturgeon, referring to the survival of fish larvae into the juvenile stage. Sturgeon, with their long snout and shark-like tail, can grow up to six metres long and live for over a century. The Nechako white sturgeon are a distinct population.
Priscilla Mueller, elected chief of Saik’uz First Nation, said the community living along the river has watched water flow decline over the last several years.
“Right now, the Nechako River received less than 30 per cent of the water that it would naturally receive. So, when you look at the river today, the water level is very low. It would be very difficult for the sturgeons to survive in very low water," she said.
“It’s not only affecting the sturgeons, but it’s also affecting our salmon and other fish habitats."
Mueller recalled fishing with her grandparents as a child and said the salmon and sturgeon thrived on the river.
“And now like in Saik’uz, I haven't heard of anybody getting a sturgeon for years since I was a child .… The (Kenney) Dam really affected the river in a big way,” said Mueller.
The Saik’uz, Stellat’en and Nadleh Whut'en First Nations said in a news release that the recent deaths are the “latest blow” to the endangered species, which numbers between 300 and 600.
“Given the population’s conservation status, these mortalities have very serious implications for the Nechako white sturgeon’s ability to recover, and will drive the population closer to extinction,” they said.
The nations have since filed an appeal of the January ruling, seeking a court order for the restoration of flows on the Nechako that would re-establish "the natural functions of the river.”
Mueller said it’s not just in the First Nations’ interests to restore the river — the health of the river would benefit the whole community on the waterway.
The nations said they now look forward to discussions with all parties to create a new water management regime.
Mueller said one of the first steps is to invite Rio Tinto to their community to see who they are and how they live.
"So, for our community, building relationships is very important. And when you think about a relationship, it's not just one-sided. If we were gonna co-manage the river, that means all parties need to be involved,” said Mueller.
The Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said no more dead sturgeon have recently been observed on the Nechako River, which it saw as a “positive update.”
“We are cautiously optimistic that this mortality event is over. The province is focusing on understanding the cause and what can be done to prevent potential future events," the ministry said in an email statement.
No cause of death was immediately apparent, but analyses and lab tests would continue, with water temperature and oxygen stress studies also underway through a partnership with the University of British Columbia, said the ministry.
"The province understands there is interest from First Nations and stakeholders in a water release facility at the Kenney Dam in the Nechako watershed," the ministry said, adding that it was discussing sturgeon stewardship "to ensure it meets the interests of Nechako First Nations."
Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a written statement it had been engaged with Indigenous groups, Rio Tinto, B.C. and others in Nechako River white sturgeon recovery initiatives since 2000. A key objective was to ensure Rio Tinto operations “do not impact Nechako white sturgeon and facilitate their recovery.”
Andrew Czornohalan, director of power and projects at Rio Tinto BC Works, said in an email statement that the company is “deeply saddened” by the sturgeons’ deaths and it is working with partners, including the Nechako white sturgeon recovery initiative and the province.
“We are aware of the sturgeon mortality that occurred this summer in the Nechako River and in other rivers in B.C., including the Fraser River. We have offered technical capacity via the water engagement initiative to identify the possible causes of this unprecedented event."
He said the company has contributed over $13 million to the recovery initiative since 2000.
Over the past two years, Rio Tinto has been working with the First Nations and local communities to improve the water flow into the Nechako River while still monitoring for flood risks in Vanderhoof, a city in northern B.C., said Czornohalan.
“We will continue to collaborate with First Nations, governments and other stakeholders to review all aspects of the Nechako Reservoir management process in hopes of improving the health of the river and ensuring Rio Tinto can remain a driver of economic opportunities in B.C.,” said Czornohalan.
He said on top of powering its smelting plant, the dam provides hydropower for around 350,000 residents in B.C.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2022.
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
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