White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative

White sturgeon is BC's largest freshwater fish species and is found in four major river systems including the Fraser, Nechako, Columbia and Kootenay rivers. Unfortunately, all populations have experienced a serious decline in recent years, causing the province to place white sturgeon on the provincial red list. Further evidence strongly indicates that three of these populations including the Nechako, Columbia and Kootenay face a high risk of extinction within the next generation if the situation is not remedied. Recovery initiatives are underway for each of these populations.

Given the high likelihood of extinction, and the fact that no significant recruitment has been documented for Nechako, Columbia or Kootenay populations within the past generation, immediate action is required to prevent further losses to the population. All three recovery initiatives call for conservation fish culture as a tool to aid in the preservation of genetic material and rebuilding populations.

Support for Recovery

To date, the Kootenay and Columbia Recovery initiatives have developed special hatchery facilities to accommodate sturgeon recovery.

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho (KTOI) first established a hatchery for Kootenay River white sturgeon recovery in Idaho in 1990.  In 1998, the KTOI provided funding to the province to establish a sturgeon facility at the  Kootenay Trout Hatchery near Cranbrook. The FFSBC continues to work with another funding partner, the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (CBFWCP), to deliver the conservation culture component of both the upper Columbia and Kootenay River white sturgeon recovery initiatives.  In 2006, a hatchery facility in Vanderhoof was constructed for the first recovery efforts on the Nechako River with the support from the Ministry of Environment,  ALCAN and the Carrier Sekani Tribe.

Efforts for Recovery

-  Kootenai River White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative

The FFSBC first gained experience in sturgeon conservation culture through its involvement with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho (KTOI) and the Kootenay River White Sturgeon Recovery Plan. Specifically, a partnership was established with the KTOI for the culture of this trans-boundary sturgeon population in British Columbia. In 1998, construction of the Kootenay White Sturgeon Conservation Hatchery was completed a t the Kootenay Trout Hatchery complex near Fort Steele. For the Kootenay white sturgeon program the FFSBC receives fertilized sturgeon eggs from the Kootenai Tribe, and young fish are cultured for about a year. They are marked and then released into the Kootenai River in Idaho, as well as Kootenay Lake.   

- Upper Columbia White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative (UCWSRI)

FFSBC involvement in the UCWSRI began in 2000 with a request by MOE (provincial Ministry of Environment) to evaluate options for a pilot sturgeon culture facility that could begin production in 2001.  FFSBC designed and built the Hill Creek Pilot White Sturgeon Conservation Hatchery and the first Upper Columbia white sturgeon were spawned at this facility in spring 2001. The program was run out of this facility for two years but difficulties were encountered due to a number of physical limitations at the Hill Creek site. In the spring of 2003 the Upper Columbia program was transferred to the Kootenay Trout Hatchery complex where it is operated in conjunction with the Kootenay River Sturgeon Conservation Hatchery. Operating the two sturgeon facilities side by side brings a lot of advantages to both programs.

The white sturgeon hatchery provides adult holding, spawning, incubation and rearing facilities. FFSBC staff continues to expand its expertise in conservation culture for white sturgeon and maintain a close working relationship with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho hatchery staff and sturgeon experts at University of California at Davis, as well as other institutions.

Overall, the conservation culture program for the Upper Columbia white sturgeon appears to be a success to date. Meeting wild broodstock goals continues to be a challenge since the program was initiated. However, FFSBC staff has fine-tuned spawning and rearing protocols, and hatchery survival rates of spawned offspring are excellent. In 2002, the first cultured juveniles were released into the Upper Columbia. Approximately 9,000 marked yearlings were released at various sites during the summer downstream of Hugh Keenleyside dam in the Columbia River and in the lower Kootenay River. Similarly, another 12,000 marked yearlings were released in 2003.   Details on the UCWSRI program can be found at: http://www.uppercolumbiasturgeon.org/

- The Nechako River White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative

In 2006 the FFSBC along with MoE, ALCAN and the Carrier Sekani Tribe launched a project to collect broodstock, spawn and release nearly 5000 juveniles at the Vanderhoof location.  To learn more about this recovery effort, check out the Nechako River White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative website.