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Web posted Wednesday, July 5, 2000 http://www.yankton.net/stories/070500/new_0705000004.html Fish And Wildlife Service To Stock Lake With Pallid Sturgeon VERDEL, Neb. (AP) -- The Lewis and Clark Lake of the Missouri River will be stocked with several hundred pallid sturgeon in an effort to save the disappearing historic fish, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. About 450 young and eight adult hatchery-spawned pallid sturgeon will be released into the lake on Thursday. The fish will join between 15 and 25 other adult pallid sturgeon on the lake who are nearing the end of their life cycle. The species have not naturally reproduced in the region for at least 20 years and face extinction in 10 to 20 years if efforts are not made, wildlife officials said. The pallid sturgeon was listed as endangered in 1990 after biologists reported a drastic decline in the species' population. That decline has largely been blamed on alterations in the fish's habitat, found mostly in the Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi rivers and their larger tributaries. Researchers say that as recently as the 1940s, the upper Missouri River may have held up to several hundred pallid sturgeons per mile. However, the creation of dams and river channelization have lessened the diverse depths and velocities, braided channels, sand flats and eroding banks in which the fish thrive. The pallid sturgeon has a prehistoric look, sporting bony plates instead of scales and a reptile-like tail. The grayish-white bottom-feeder can weigh up to 80 pounds and reach six feet in length. The Fish and Wildlife Service intends to monitor the fish being released this week and will repeat the stocking process each of the next six years, officials said. ''This fish has survived everything nature has thrown at it since prehistoric time,'' said Ralph Morgenweck, director of the agency's Mountain-Prairie Region. ''It would be a shame to see it disappear because of human activities over the past 50 years or so.''
Web posted Friday, July 7, 2000 http://www.yankton.net/stories/070700/com_0707000006.html Pallid Sturgeon Begin Fight For Survival In The Wild By JAY GRAVHOLT P&D Assistant Managing Editor VERDELL, Neb. -- A decade ago, the pallid sturgeon was placed on the Federal Endangered Species List. On Thursday, fishery biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission took a big leap forward when they released 397 three-year-old pallids and six adults near Verdell, Neb. The three-year-olds were spawned and raised by biologists at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery west of Yankton. Hatchery Director Herb Bollig said the stocking, though eagerly anticipated, is just another step in the recovery process. "This is a day we've been looking forward to for a long time," Bollig said. "It's exciting to get them back in the wild. It's good for the hatchery, it's good for the fish, it's good for the environment and it's good for Yankton. There's still a lot of work ahead to get this species back in the wild and reproducing, though." "We have a species that's on the verge of extinction," said Wayne Stancill, supervisor of the Pierre Fisheries Resource office for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We've been working many years -- both the hatcheries and management assistance people -- to get to the point where we can begin recovery efforts. What we're doing out here is recovery. We're putting fish back in the water and I think that's a good start." Missouri River Coordinator Mike Olson, who made the trip down from Bismarck, N.D., with Steve Krentz, the pallid sturgeon recovery team leader, said he felt honored to be involved in this portion of the recovery effort. "This is a great thing to be a part of," Olson said. "There have only been a couple of pallid stockings in the upper reaches of the Missouri, but never in this region." The only other major stocking of the fish was last year at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone River at the border of Montana and North Dakota. Those fish also were spawned and raised at Gavins Point Hatchery. "The hatchery here at Gavins Point and at Garrison (N.D.) are really the cornerstones of the hatchery portion of this recovery effort," Olson said. "These two hatcheries have been in the forefront of sturgeon reproduction and the husbandry techniques. "We're hopeful that with additional habitat work in the river itself and a slight modification of the flows we can get this species to be self-sustaining," Olson said. "The ultimate goal of this effort is to have wild, reproducing pallid sturgeon once again." Originally, only three hatcheries in the world had successfully spawned the pallids -- Gavins Point; Blind Pony State Fish Hatchery, Sweet Springs, Mo.; and Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery, Natchitoches, La. T he first highly successful spawn of the pallids took place in 1997 at Gavins Point. It is that year class which was released Thursday."We really needed to get this (stocking) done," Bollig said. "The hatchery had a large number of sturgeon with two more year classes (1998, 1999) coming right along." The fish, averaging 18 in. in length and 1 1/2 pounds each, were released along the Missouri in areas ranging from Running Water to just north of Verdell. All the young fish were fitted with sonic tags which emit different radio frequencies to help biologists track their movement. Bright orange external tags also were attached to the backs of all the three-year-olds to help not only identify hatchery-raised, stocked fish, but to help anglers identify that the species is endangered. Bollig said he felt the fish would manage to survive in that stretch of the river, but that many questions have yet to be answered. "In that section of the river, I think the main concerns are whether or not they will survive long term and be able to spawn," Bollig said. "We're still learning about this fish. Where will they go from here? Will they move through the reservoir down river? Is there enough preferred habitat available to support them? These are all questions that will have to be answered over a period of time." Since the female sturgeon take about 10 years to reach spawning maturity, biologists will have to follow these fish closely for an extended period of time. Steve Krentz from the Garrison hatchery in Bismarck is the pallid recovery team leader, and is one of the biologists who will be tracking the prehistoric species over the next several years. "This isn't going to be short term by any means," he said. "We'll be out here for the long haul to help this species recover. We've done 50 years of damage and modification to the river. It's going to take a number of years to recover this species. We've just begun to learn what this species needs. "South Dakota, Nebraska and the Fish and Wildlife Service will be out here monitoring the fish," Krentz said. "We'll be able to follow the fish with the transmitters in them to see what types of habitat they prefer, and their behavior as it relates to the velocity of the current." One of the prevailing theories on the demise of the pallid sturgeon is that the reservoir system took away the natural flow and currents of the river. Most biologists agree, including Bollig, that the sturgeon need substantial current and sandy or even rocky underwater terrain to reproduce effectively. "The purpose of the recovery team is to bring the pallid back from endangered status to recovered status," Krentz said. "Right now we're trying to build up the population to the point where it is self-sustaining and reproducing. "This is an exciting time for all of us," Krentz said. "These next couple of years are going to be absolutely fabulous. We've coined it 'three steps forward, two steps back.' We're making progress, we've had our setbacks, but we're still moving forward." Plans are under way to release more fish in each of the next six years, including a September stocking of the 1998 year class in the same stretch of river, according to Stancill.
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