Hundreds of tiny sturgeons – and about a hundred onlookers – were at the Port of Rochester on Oct. 14 for the latest round of stocking the Genesee River.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation stocked the 1,500 lake sturgeon, most of which are just a year old, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service New York field office. The eggs those fingerling fish grew out of were raised at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery in Wisconsin. They were transported to the DEC fish hatchery in Oneida County, then driven out to Rochester for the release near the mouth of the Genesee River at Lake Ontario.
While the stocking is a scientific endeavor, it’s a community event as well. A crowd of all ages gathered by the boat launch
to witness the operation, with some getting closer looks at the zoo’s sturgeons and getting to touch the tiny sturgeon before they were put into the river. Some kids even got a chance to pour a sturgeon from a bucket into the river from the end of the dock.
The sturgeon release has happened nearly every year since 2013. Lake sturgeon had nearly disappeared from the area due to habitat loss, water quality issues and overfishing, state DEC fisheries biologist Mike DiSarno said. Sturgeon were considered regionally extinct from the Genesee River by the late 1980s.
“The population of sturgeon have declined but through stocking we’ve actually seen a lot of good return, meaning a lot of these adults have actually come back to the river,” DiSarno said. “We’ve seen some spawning-size females and males coming back, so it’s a really good sign these fish are doing pretty well.”
Federal surveys and netting programs have found adult lake sturgeon ready to lay eggs and some eggs laid in egg traps. The DEC announced the first finding of lake sturgeon spawning in the Genesee River in 2021.
It takes a while for sturgeon to reach maturity, about 8 to 19 years for males and 14 to 23 years for females. The first sturgeons were stocked in the river back in the early 2000s, before it became a mostly annual event. All told, approximately 9,000 lake sturgeon have been stocked in the Genesee River since 2003.
Among the sturgeon entering the lake were a trio of two-year-old lake sturgeon from the Seneca Park Zoo, named Marino, McDermott and Allen. Those football-themed sturgeon will be replaced by three new fingerling sturgeon that will remain at the zoo for a year or two.
Lake sturgeon are a threatened species of fishfound in freshwater lakes and large rivers, as well as brackish waters like Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence River. These bottom-feeding fish are long lived, with females living up to 80 years and males living up to 55 years. They’re also among the largest freshwater fish in the state, growing up to 5 feet in length and weighing up to 80 pounds
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Hundreds of young sturgeon released into Genesee River
