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STURGEON NEWS
By: GREG WILKERSON, Staff Writer April 19, 2002 Mountain
Press Sevierville TN
The French Broad River, below Douglas Dam, continues to increase its stock
of ancient fish. For the fourth time since the project began in
2000, a truckload of lake sturgeon were released into the river, this
time much further down off Midway Road in Knox County.
About 700 of the baby fish were released Wednesday. Sturgeon, which were
around before the dinosaurs, can grow to several feet long and live for
more than 100 years. About 10,000 have been released since the program's
start.
"It'll be 30 to 35 years from now before we know if this is a success,"
said Richard Kirk of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. "This
project will actually span generations."
TWRA is conducting the experiment along with the Tennessee Valley Authority,
the Fish and Wildlife Service, Conservation Fisheries Inc., the Tennessee
Aquarium in Chattanooga and the Wilderness Wildlife Fund.
"The females are anywhere from 15 to 25 before they start reproducing,"
said Ed Scott of TVA. They give birth every four to five years once they
reach maturity. "We are having survival," he said.
A radio collar test showed an 80 percent survival rate for the first year.
Four sturgeon have been recovered by researchers, but the public is not
encouraged to search them out.
"They're endangered in Tennessee," Kirk said. People "shouldn't
be fishing for them."
If someone does catch one, however, "we would really like to know
when and where," Scott said. Any person who catches one would be
helping the project if they measure it before letting it go, and report
it to TWRA.
"In February, a sauger fisherman caught a 22-inch sturgeon,"
Scott said. "They realized it was a sturgeon. They measured it and
released it."
Tuesday night Scott was told by other people that two had been caught
that were 11 and 13 inches long.
To report the capture of a sturgeon, phone TWRA's Morristown office at
1-800-332-0900.
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