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Sturgeon Carcass in SF Bay and Sac/San Joaquin Delta

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 5:32 pm
by WB Staff
Sturgeon Carcass in SF Bay and SacSan Joaquin Delta.jpg
From CDFW
IF YOU FIND A STURGEON CARCASS, WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT!
Found year-round in the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, white sturgeon can live more than 100 years and once used to grow more than 20 feet long! The take of white sturgeon in California is carefully monitored by CDFW scientists via the Sturgeon Report Card program, and this information is incorporated into management decisions for the recreational fishery.

In recent years, researchers and natural resource managers have become interested in reports of adult sturgeon carcasses that are thought to have died for reasons unrelated to the recreational fishery. These deaths may be due to biological causes, such as predation by marine mammals, or from human sources such as dredging, ship strikes, or illegal harvest by poachers. Increasing human pressures on these ancient fish make them vulnerable to population decline, and its critically important that we understand and monitor individual deaths that occur outside of recreational harvest.

CDFW is collaborating with other researchers to learn more about this issue. We are asking the public to report sturgeon carcasses when they are found. Please email photos to California Sturgeon Research at CaSturgeonResearch@gmail.com and include the date, location (smartphone map coordinates preferred), and a common object for size reference. We kindly ask those reporting to not move or disturb the carcass.