Lake sturgeon in Onondaga Lake

On June 16, 2004, technicians with the Onondaga County Ambient Monitoring Program (AMP) captured, recorded, and released a lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) on Onondaga Lake. County officials are not aware of any other documented sighting of lake sturgeon in Onondaga Lake in recent history. This is certainly the first sturgeon captured on Onondaga Lake since the beginning of the AMP in 1998.

How it was caught

This remarkable fish was captured while AMP technicians were completing an experimental gill net survey of Onondaga Lake. It was measured at 4 ft 4 inches. The location was the Lake's South Basin in an area where the water is about 16 ft deep, near the west shore along the Allied wastebeds. After the fish was examined, it was returned to the lake.

The available scientific information says that lake sturgeon can reach more than 100 years of age and grow to 7 ft in length.

Tagged

This particular lake sturgeon had the added research benefit of having been tagged by Cornell Biological Field Station scientists on Oneida Lake. Mr. Randy Jackson at the Field Station stated that this was the first time that a recaptured tagged lake sturgeon had been recorded in the Seneca River drainage basin.

Based on information provided by Mr. Jackson, this lake sturgeon was tagged on August 2, 2000, on Oneida Lake near Dutchman's Island. At that time, the sturgeon was 3 ft 4 inches long and was 5 years old. Those measurements place it in the first batch of lake sturgeon stocked on Oneida Lake in 1995.

The fact that lake sturgeon are classified as a threatened species in New York State makes capture of this fish on Onondaga Lake especially significant.

Read more about the lake sturgeon—from the World Sturgeon Conservation Society.