A team of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) researchers recently obtained a huge lake sturgeon as part of an ongoing study to monitor population levels of the rare fish in the lake Cayuga
The massive sturgeon measured 77.6 inches long and weighed 154 pounds, nearly twice the size of the largest sturgeon from Cayuga Lake that DEC has caught in recent years, an 83.8-pound specimen tagged in 2019.
The 154-pound behemoth is just five pounds shy of a record sturgeon that Cornell researchers caught last year in Oneida Lake.
This fall, DEC is netting lake sturgeon in Cayuga Lake to monitor population abundance and tag the fish for an ongoing telemetry study, said Emily Zollweg-Horan, DEC senior aquatic biologist.
Working alongside U.S. Geological Survey researchers, DEC has so far obtained 15 lake sturgeon in October. In addition to obtaining measurements of fish size and weight, researchers also implant untagged sturgeon with identification microchips and acoustic transmitters.
“Acoustic tags are scanned by receivers located along the lake and collected as fish swim past, providing an understanding of where fish are moving along the lake,” Zollweg-Horan said, adding that there are 42 acoustically tagged sturgeon in Cayuga lake right now, including the 15 fish his team tagged this month.
Cayuga Lake’s sturgeon population, currently estimated at about 400 fish, is making great strides toward recovery, Zollweg-Horan said, and the stocked fish show good genetic diversity.
DEC began its lake sturgeon restoration program in 1993, a decade after the state listed the fish as a threatened species. Since then, DEC has supplied New York’s waterways with nearly 300,000 sturgeon.
Lake sturgeon are among the largest freshwater fish in New York and take 15 to 20 years to reach maturity and spawn for the first time. Mature adults average 3 to 5 feet in length and 10 to 80 pounds in weight, but can sometimes grow to over 7 feet and over 300 pounds.
There is no open fishing season for sturgeon and possession of the fish is prohibited. Anglers should not intentionally target these rare fish. If a sturgeon is accidentally hooked, it must be released immediately. More information is on the DEC website.
DEC plans to issue a statewide report with its findings in 2023.