Survival, Growth and Movement of Hatchery-Reared Pallid Sturgeon Post-Stocking

As Pallid Sturgeon were recognized as an endangered species and the associated Recovery Plan was issued, an artificial propagation and stocking program was initiated.  These efforts utilized the remnant population to spawn in captivity and reared their progeny to increase the likelihood of survival.  Since propagation efforts originated, over 173 thousand Pallid Sturgeon, representing 18 year classes, have been produced and stocked into the lower Missouri River.  Multiple hatcheries have produced progeny from unique family crosses and subsequently stocked these juvenile pallid sturgeon at numerous locations.  Age and size-at-stocking has been variable but the majority were stocked as fall age-0 to age-1 sized fish, ranging from 100 to greater than 300 mm. Thus the objectives of this investigation are to utilize the available stock-recapture Pallid Sturgeon data to: (1) quantify survival and stocking success by determining the number of progeny stocked and recaptured by year class, stocking site, age-at-stocking, size-at-stocking, hatchery and parental cross, (2) determine how growth differs amongst these parameters and (3) describe post-stocking movement and dispersal patterns.  Previous survival assessments have proven age-0 survival is much lower compared to age-1 fish and recapture rates between year classes, stocking locations and parental cross are highly variable.