So far, 85 shortnose sturgeon have been counted at the fishway in 2017, and a number of these fish have been tagged. But to corroborate this development and to ensure its further success, existing age and telemetry data need to be analyzed now and taken into consideration. Meta-data such as length/weight, temperature, river discharge and habitat characteristics will also be included. Objective 1 will analyze sections of sturgeon pectoral fin spines, collected 1988-2019. We’re looking forward to working with our partners, including the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the U.S. Feb 2020 - Feb 2022 ($150,000). Objective 3 will target historic and newly identified sites to actively search for spawning Atlantic sturgeon. Our websites may use cookies to personalize and enhance your experience. From 1988-1994, Division staff collected, tagged and released 325 shortnose sturgeon. The fishway has already improved passage for many species of anadromous fish, including American shad, alewife, blueback herring, and sea lamprey. If that is the case, we think this population would be very small, as we have no records of sturgeon caught in any fish sampling that has been done in this area. Last updated by Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office DNA taken from small Atlantic Sturgeon collected in the lower Connecticut River in 2014 revealed these fish are not strays from any other river system but are a distinct population of CT River Atlantic Sturgeon. It’s possible that the fish made its way upstream past the falls through the fish ladder installed in 1980. Although the Connecticut River shortnose sturgeon population is small (estimated at fewer than 1,600 individuals), it appears relatively stable and may have increased over the past 30 years. Population age-length relationships will be derived and longitudinal measurements used to reconstruct individual growth curves. Although shortnose sturgeon sometimes jump out of the water, they don’t leap to overcome migration obstacles like salmon do, so researchers and managers were fairly certain that steep falls like Great Falls, where the Turners Falls Dam was built in 1905, blocked sturgeon access to the upstream reaches of the Connecticut River. Mumford Cove Monitoring data (interactive), Mumford Cove Bi-weekly beach seine survey, Effects of warming x acidification on marine copepods, Genomic underpinnings of local adaptation, Atlantic sturgeon in the Connecticut River, 44th Larval Fish Conference MYSTIC CT 21-26 June 2020. This August, a fisherman on the Connecticut River had quite a surprise when he reeled in a relic from the age of dinosaurs. In fact, it has been widely accepted that the range of Connecticut River shortnose sturgeon was from the mouth of the river at Long Island Sound to the Turners Falls Dam. age over 60 years), slow-growing fishes, and … For the past several years, we have been working with Holyoke Gas and Electric to improve fish passage on the Holyoke Dam. This August, a fisherman casting downstream of the Vernon Dam (in Vernon, Vermont) on the Connecticut River (see map) had quite a surprise when he reeled in not a walleye or bass, but instead a relic from the age of dinosaurs: an adult-sized shortnose sturgeon. It’s possible that sturgeon used the locks to move upstream during that time. Comparisons to published values will test for the occurrence of possible mature spawners in the collection. After word of this catch got around, we heard about other sturgeon sightings between the Turners Falls Dam and the Vernon Dam, as well as between the Vernon Dam and the Bellows Falls Dam (in Bellows Falls, Vermont). Sturgeon researchers at the USGS Conte Anadromous Fish Lab confirmed that this was indeed a shortnose sturgeon. Remember that no matter where they occur, shortnose sturgeon are endangered. That means that keeping any shortnose sturgeon is prohibited. Sturgeons are very long-lived (max. This spring, we’ll be posting signs along the river to remind anglers that any sturgeon should be immediately released, and that will provide handling and reporting tips for your and the fish’s safety. Please contact Edith Carson (Edith.Carson@noaa.gov) or Julie Crocker (Julie.Crocker@noaa.gov) with any stories, photos, other information, or questions. In recent years this fishway has been monitored intensively, but that wasn’t always true, so it’s possible individuals could have slipped through undetected. No sightings upstream of the Vernon Dam have been verified. This sturgeon, which was released alive, is the first documented report of a shortnose sturgeon in the Connecticut River upstream of the Turners Falls Dam (in Turners Falls, Massachusetts). However, sturgeon aren’t very good at using fish ladders and no observations of sturgeon passage at the Turners Falls ladder have been recorded. And, for the first time in 20 years, shortnose sturgeon were passed upstream of the dam! From the late 1700s to the mid-1800s, a series of barge locks existed at Turners Falls to aid in the movement of boats up and down the river. As part of our Recovery Plan for the species, we monitor their populations in a number of rivers along the U.S. East Coast. 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