First evidence of natural reproduction and recruitment of reintroduced Lake Sturgeon in the Coosa River, Georgia
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Abstract
Objective
Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fluences became extirpated from the Coosa River system in Georgia and Alabama during the 1970s. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources began stocking hatchery-raised Lake Sturgeon in 2002 with the goal of reestablishing a self-sustaining population. Stocking lapsed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed an opportunity to assess natural recruitment to the reintroduced population.
Methods
We conducted trammel-net surveys during May–August in 2022 and 2023 and removed a pectoral fin spine section from all captured individuals. We compared the fin spine sections of suspected naturally hatched juveniles with those from known-age, hatchery-raised juveniles to confirm our age estimates.
Results
We captured one age-2 juvenile Lake Sturgeon in 2022 and eight age-3 juveniles in 2023. This indicates the presence of natural recruitment due to the absence of stocking of hatchery individuals in 2020.
Conclusions
Documenting individuals of a year-class that was not created by hatchery-raised juveniles provides the first evidence that offspring of early reintroduced Lake Sturgeon are being recruited into the reintroduced population in the Coosa River, Georgia.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | First evidence of natural reproduction and recruitment of reintroduced Lake Sturgeon in the Coosa River, Georgia |
| Series title | North American Journal of Fisheries Management |
| DOI | 10.1093/najfmt/vqaf037 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication Date | May 28, 2025 |
| Year Published | 2025 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Fisheries Society |
| Contributing office(s) | Coop Res Unit Atlanta |
| Description | 7 p. |
| First page | 516 |
| Last page | 522 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alabama, Georgia |
| Other Geospatial | Coosa River system |