The lake sturgeon population in the Great Lakes has been declining for more than a century. It is thought that today’s numbers may be as little as one percent of what they used to be. They are considered threatened or endangered in most states in their range. A mature adult can grow to seven feet and 200 to 300 pounds. They can live for many decades.
A year and a half ago, a barge crew dropped “... 25,000 tons of limestone blocks on the bottom of the Detroit River in the latest phase of a decade-plus effort to lure lake sturgeon to rock spawning reefs and help restore severely depleted populations of the once-common Great Lakes giants.”
 |
| UW Stevens Point - Nature Conservancy |
 |
| Austin Thomason, Michigan Photography |
The reefs are “… built from blocks of broken limestone 4 to 8 inches in diameter.”
They work. Sturgeon eggs have been collected on the reefs. Researchers have found young sturgeon in the fast current of the north channel of the St. Clair River, downstream from a reef, before the channel reaches Lake St. Clair.
No comments:
Post a Comment