Adopt-a-Sturgeon

I received an email at work asking for volunteers to help with a Saturday open house event at the C.D. "Buzz" Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility (BAFF) in Kewaunee.  Buzz Besadny was a career biologist with the Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources and key conservation player in Wisconsin, AND I just learned that he also was a former president of The Wildlife Society (1974-75)!  I had been interested in checking out the facility, so what better day than open house when I can help with the stations in addition to exploring?  Scott was working on Saturday presenting at a forestry field day landowner workshop, so he was already booked.

The weather report was for potential rain, but relatively mild temperatures.  Once I got out of the city, the 35 minute morning drive to Kewaunee was enjoyable through all the farmland.  I arrived at the facility and got right to my station:  Adopt-a-Sturgeon.  Now, this isn't an adoption where you get to pick out a fish and take it home- it's a fundraiser for the Algoma-Kewaunee Area Great Lakes Sportfishermen that allows you to "adopt" or support a lake sturgeon that was tank-reared at the facility and release it into the Kewaunee River, and ultimately Lake Michigan.

Lake sturgeon are very long-lived, prehistoric fish- they can survive to 50-100+ years of age and can get very large- up to 10 feet long and several hundred pounds!  Sturgeon were common in the Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage where they had the space to get large, but faced many challenges over the last century or so. They were overfished in the past (i.e., fish were removed from the fishery at a greater rate then they can replace themselves), have low reproductive capacity (15 years to maturity for males, 20-25 years for females; spawn every ~4 years), resulting in severe decline.  Habitat loss and accessibility to their spawning grounds in streams and rivers served as additional habitat challenges.  Today, reintroduction programs have increased the population and there is not only a hook-and-line season for sturgeon in September in Wisconsin, but also a winter spearing season on Lake Winnebago.

The term "anadromous" (ah NAD ro mus) is used to describe fish that migrate from the sea (or a huge inland lake) to streams and rivers to spawn.  In addition to sturgeon, some salmon also use this breeding strategy in the Great Lakes system.  The advantage is that you can return to your natal stream to contribute to the longevity of the species there, and set your offspring up with a safer environment with lots of places to hide.  The problem is that with dams and other human structures, safe passage to the spawning grounds has become more problematic.  BAFF actually has a small dam (to prevent the passage of invasive species upriver) and a fish ladder that allows the passage of fish, such as salmon over/through the barrier.  It also provides opportunity for fish to be collected at the site for egg/sperm collection for tank-rearing.  The sturgeon are raised on-site in a streamside facility and are released just below the dam.  This way the fish learn that the Kewaunee River is home.

The dam includes a spillway so it does not encourage fish to jump.  Fish have to use the ladder or the bypass channel.  This way, fish can be  directed for collection/monitoring and invasives (e.g., sea lamprey from Lake M) can be kept from passing.

So, back to our sturgeon adoption.  Visitors could give a $5 donation to "adopt" a fish, which they would select from a holding tank.  They would assist with scanning the pre-inserted passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag with a reader (basically the same microchip your dog or cat may have), and then send the fish down a slide into the Kewaunee River.  After the release, each participant would receive their adoption certification with their fish's length and weight at release, plus the PIT tag number, so they can look it up online down the road and see if it has been caught at all by an angler or during a fisheries population survey.  It really surprises the kids to hear that the fish may survive throughout most of their life.  They kids also really like the fish slide.

Selected, scanned, and ready for release

I helped throughout the station where help was needed (including damage control and IT support after a power outage!), but my main job was scanning for the PIT tag.  The kids also got a kick out of this since I scan the fish like at the grocery store and a big long number pops up on the screen.  I got to meet lots of great folks at the station from both the Fisherman organization and my Wisconsin DNR compatriots in the Fisheries Management Bureau.  It started to rain near the end of the day, but all in all, over 100 sturgeon were adopted.  Portions of the adoption proceeds come back to pay for the PIT tags and support the sturgeon rearing program.

I had a great time volunteering, and even got a "free" lunch at the concession for helping!  I learned a lot about sturgeon and got to send my own little adopted dinosaur off into the depths to hopefully cruise Lake Michigan for a long, long time.
 

 Ready for the slide into the Kewaunee River!

Check out this 2012 news article about the 125 year old Wisconsin record holder sturgeon tagged in the Wolf River/Lake Winnebago system, just west of Green Bay.  Amazing!!  I hope to make it out there this spring to see the sturgeon spawn- a big pastime in the area. Or maybe by late April everyone has a mighty case of cabin fever....