Since 2006, thousands of tagged juvenile sturgeon have been released into the Nechako River through the fish culture program, which is one of the recovery initiatives for the endangered Nechako white sturgeon. And during all this time, YOU have been helping us release these young sturgeon into the river and helping in the recovery of this population. Researchers on the Technical Working Group continually work on fish sampling surveys to see if they can locate any of the fish that have been released since 2006. Sometimes tagged fish are located within a couple of months of their release, or they may be recaptured years later. When a fish is recaptured, the date and location of the capture is recorded along with measurements of weight and length. It is also scanned for the passive integrated transponder (PIT tag) embedded just beneath its skin. It is this tag number that you were given at the release event you attended.
Remember, these fish are very small and not always so easy to find - your sturgeon is at the very beginning of a long life and the Nechako watershed is a big place! But if you are patient, you may one day find information on the fish that you helped release back into the river.
Did you know that White Sturgeon are the largest freshwater fish in North America and can weigh over 500 kilograms, be over 5 meters in length (the largest recorded was over 6 meters long), and live for over 100 years? White Sturgeon in the Nechako watershed tend to be smaller, but can still live just as long!
The largest white sturgeon caught in the Nechako watershed by researchers include:
To see if your fish has been captured by white sturgeon biologists,
search for your fish below: