80 Nechako White Sturgeon’s were released into the Fraser Lake yesterday (Thursday), as part of conservation efforts by the Fresh Water Society of BC and the Nechako White Sturgeon Conservation Centre.
The fish were released in two separate areas of the Lake, as 40 were released into Beaumont Park and the other 40 were sent into White Swan Park.
Jordan Cranmer, Outreach and Junior Research Technician with the Freshwater Fishery Society of BC says their annual research on juvenile Sturgeon in the Nechako Watershed has made some breaks recently.
“It’s kind of turned a table on research in the past little while, so we’re discovering that there are large amounts of Otter predation in the Nechako Watershed for juvenile Sturgeon, so there’s been some really interesting research coming out of UNBC on it,” explained Cranmer.
She says the organization is learning a lot about the Nechako White Sturgeon, noting that they often pass away before getting the chance to reproduce.
“What the Nechako White Sturgeon are facing currently is juvenile recruitment failure, so what’s happening are the Sturgeon aren’t living to an age where they’re able to sexually reproduce, so that’s why we release 2-year-old Sturgeon to kind of help that portion of the population,” she explained.
Normally, students from around the region get the chance to participate in the event by meeting up at Riverside Park in Vanderhoof and releasing them by hand, however that hasn’t been possible for the past two years.
This year, the entire release was filmed and classes from around the region were each able to name 4 different Sturgeon prior to the release.
“We’ll be releasing a virtual release this year, and school’s were able to participate with virtual release kits. Students from throughout the school district and from various private schools were delivered release kits to help them learn about the Nechako White Sturgeon and why it’s important we release those fish into the river.”
As part of conservation and research efforts, the fish are also released into parts of the Nechako River as well.