Growth, Abundance, Survival, and Habitat of Lake Sturgeon in the Lower Niagara River

The lower Niagara River once supported a large commercial and recreational lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) fishery, prior to a region-wide lake sturgeon collapse in the Great Lakes during the mid-twentieth century. Despite the lack of targeted lake sturgeon management in the lower Niagara River following the species’ decline across the Great Lakes, evidence suggests that a remnant, naturally reproducing population continues to exist in this system. A population monitoring study was initiated in 1998 for lake sturgeon in the lower Niagara River and Niagara Bar, but field monitoring ceased in 2003. Monitoring results indicated that the abundance and stock structure of the lower Niagara River lake sturgeon population was similar to other small, naturally reproducing populations elsewhere in the Great Lakes and Laurentian River systems; however, with the cessation of monitoring efforts, there is an increasing need for an accurate and updated lake sturgeon population assessment in the Lower Niagara River. In the summer of 2010, we initiated a study of adult lake sturgeon in the lower Niagara River and the Niagara Bar. Our objectives were 1) to identify and quantify differences in population parameters before and after the cessation of monitoring efforts from 2004-2009, and 2) to develop current, precise estimates of growth, abundance, survival, and habitat use for lake sturgeon in the lower Niagara River. During the summer of 2010, we captured, PIT-tagged, and released 28 fish using set-lines. With the addition of a radiotelemetry study using passive and active telemetry techniques, the continuation of mark-recapture methods, and the implementation of a temporally and spatially balanced sampling regime in 2011, a robust population assessment will be available for comparison with prior assessments conducted on this population during the past decade