Sturgeon comeback talk

[Lee Borgersen]

  ........... Sturgeon comeback prompts talk of fishing

When a fish starts topping 100 pounds, it's more like a whitetail than a walleye.

That's how Minnesota biologists are viewing lake sturgeon, Minnesota's largest fish, as they continue to stage remarkable comebacks in many quarters of the state.

"We're managing lake sturgeon like big-game animals, because that's what they are," said Henry Drewes, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' regional fisheries manager in Bemidji.

By the mid-1900s, lake sturgeon populations were destroyed or nearly destroyed throughout much of the state, the result of overfishing and habitat destruction.

But now they're back, and the DNR is considering a major opening of the fish population to angling.

Strictly regulated fishing seasons, usually in the fall, currently are allowed in parts of the Rainy River watershed, including Lake of the Woods, and the Lower St. Croix River. Both areas have delicate, but healthy, populations of the ancient fish, which can reach several hundred pounds and live for more than a century. Anglers apply for a single tag, with a limit of one large fish per season, much the way moose and bear seasons are run.

Fishing remains closed on the Mississippi, St. Louis and Red rivers, the other watersheds where sturgeon are native. But because of decades of habitat improvements -- including altering or removing dams, and years-long stocking campaigns -- those populations, some of which had disappeared, are steadily improving, according to data from the

 
 DNR and partnering agencies such as several American Indian groups.
The comeback story reached a high last year on the St. Louis River near Duluth when biologists netted lake sturgeon fry, signifying the fish were naturally reproducing.

"You almost had grown men and women crying in the river when they saw those little buggers," Drewes said. "It was a real milestone."

On the Mississippi River near Winona, lake sturgeon are caught alongside legally catchable shovelnose sturgeon, catfish, walleye and sauger, according to Drewes and guides on the river. It's illegal to target those lake sturgeon, and Drewes explained, "We're technically making violators out of responsible fishermen."

That situation, as well as sturgeon successes elsewhere, is prompting the DNR to consider opening more waters to sturgeon fishing.

"Is it time to think about more catch-and-release seasons? Would we maybe have one statewide season?" Drewes asked at a DNR symposium Friday, Jan. 4.

But, like the slow-growing fish -- females can take 25 years to reach sexual maturity -- the DNR doesn't appear to be fast-tracking anything. Several weeks ago, the agency opened its rule-making process to begin talk of more sturgeon fishing.

Drewes said it could take two years for the DNR to form a position and at least another year after that before anything could be implemented.

 

Thanks to successful efforts stocking lake sturgeon fingerlings, like the one pictured, the fish are improving in several Minnesota river systems, prompting state officials to begin talking about expanding where it's legal to fish for them. (Photo: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)