Biology, Status and Management of Lake Sturgeon in the St. Lawrence River

The main objective of this talk is to show that a well managed lake sturgeon population can support sustainable commercial and recreational fisheries, even in the Great Lakes drainage where the species has nowadays become rare. In the lower St Lawrence River located between Montreal and downstream Quebec City, the lake sturgeon population was considered overexploited by a governmental scientific committee in 1987. A first management plan implemented in 1987 failed to reduce the catch and provide more protection to the spawning stock. In 2000, a stronger management plan was then enforced in order to adapt the total catch to the potential of the resource. The commercial catch was reduced by 60% and an individual codebar plastic tag and a code-bar weight declaration coupon were established to control its application. Ten years later, we are confident in maintaining the actual fisheries because the commercial catch is now much lower (80 tonnes) and is more effectively controlled and the abundance of juvenile lake sturgeon increased throughout the St Lawrence River. Restrictive management measures, close supervision of landings combined with periodic monitoring of the population were key elements in managing this long-lived species.