West Coast Green Sturgeon Biological Data Collection and Tagging Studies. Bringing Fishermen, Observers, Scientists and Managers Together

Green sturgeon are anadromous fish that occur along the West Coast of North America. The Southern Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of green sturgeon was listed as threatened in 2006. Green sturgeon are encountered as bycatch in the California halibut trawl fishery centered outside San Francisco Bay and the Federal groundfish fishery.

Observers have provided important contributions to the science and management of this species. Biological data collected by observers provide critical information for the analysis and continued monitoring of bycatch effects on the Southern DPS, supporting catch and mortality estimates by life stage and clarifying the proportion of Southern DPS fish encountered versus the non-listed Northern DPS. Observer data also plays a critical role in addressing uncertainties regarding catch estimates and post-release impacts, and observers are applying PIT tags to study re-capture rates. NOAA Fisheries has also spearheaded a new collaborative study with fishermen, observers and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to satellite-tag green sturgeon in 2015 to estimate post-release survival and to learn more about green sturgeon movement patterns. Observers, NOAA scientists and fishermen are working cooperatively to achieve the tagging and data collection for this research.