Thousand-pound sturgeon caught in Fraser River
Posted September 25, 2012 2:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CHILLIWACK (NEWS1130) – It took a group of men to reel this sucker in – but another thousand pound sturgeon has been caught in the Fraser River. Accountants from a Kamloops firm made the catch, the second this summer after some tourists reeled in a sturgeon of similar size in July.
The only trophies the group from Kamloops took home were a few pictures. They released the giant fish back into the river.
Conservationists hope it means the species’ population is becoming more healthy and stable. Sara Schreier with the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society says typically fish this size are the ones breeding.
“We do feel hopeful,” she says. “Because we do see fish like this that are larger and healthier and represent the brood stock. It’s really important that people understand it’s exciting and hopeful but we’ve got a ways to go.”
And she adds the more offspring the better, because their young struggle to survive. The species is at the top of the Fraser River food chain, but the population as a whole has been on the decline because of habitat loss. That’s not all.
“Poaching is a significant issue,” she points out. “We’re working with law enforcement and hoping we can deal with that.”
Schreier says 100 years ago, Fraser River sturgeon in the 1000 pound range or even much larger were a lot more common.
“Understanding what they need to survive and understanding what’s affecting them and impacting them really gives us a lot of context as to what’s happening in the Fraser and what we need to do to maintain the health of the ecosystem overall,” Schreier adds.
The estimated population in the river today is about 44,000.
