Fraser river sturgeon debate

[coach]

Here you go, 40incher.. I teed it up for you. Please discuss.

[NaStY]

Ill bite,

4378

[Wild one]

Ate lots of sturgeon as a kid and helped Dad tag them growing up. In my opinion there is a lot more sturgeon in the river now than there was in the days you could keep them.

The river could handle a draw tag system to allow a few to be kept in my opinion. The reason it will never happen is the money guiding them now brings in. The benefit to the increase in sturgeon charters is the up grades in tagging practices and knowledge gained by the increased number of fish tagged.

Sturgeon are extremely tough and C&R has little to no impact on them in my opinion.

[Caribou_lou]

There its a mortality rate in every Catch and release fishery. Halibut are also a tough fish but I believe DFO has a mortality estimate for the new regulations this year.

[limit time]

Ate lots of sturgeon as a kid and helped Dad tag them growing up. In my opinion there is a lot more sturgeon in the river now than there was in the days you could keep them.

The river could handle a draw tag system to allow a few to be kept in my opinion. The reason it will never happen is the money guiding them now brings in. The benefit to the increase in sturgeon charters is the up grades in tagging practices and knowledge gained by the increased number of fish tagged.

Sturgeon are extremely tough and C&R has little to no impact on them in my opinion.

I remember fishing for them with my dad back in those days, either he sucked or there were fewer. It seem you can catch them anywhere now with relative ease.

I also agree with a draw system, if there are as many tagged as another stated " 60,000"? Why can't some be kept? Shit, what's the population of the Grizz in BC?

[BUCKJR]

Well there are certainly not more fish now than there was in the past. There is a reason this fishery is catch and release with no retention as popultion numbers are significantly lower than the past. Furthermore there is a reason the lower Fraser stock have been classified as a threaten species of risk by COSEWIC. All other white sturgeon in BC are classified as endangered. Yes these fish are are extremely tough and can easlily handle catch and release as over 15 years of data indicates, however the catch and release sturgeon fishery has vertually no measurable mortality rate. There are thousands of sturgeon in all size classes that are caught and released each year and have been recaught multible times over the years. In fact some fish are recaptured, numerous times in a year. Mortality of sturgeon in the lower fraser (Hells gate to the mouth of the river) comes mainly from gill nets, predators and poaching. If i can remember correctly the current numbers indicate a population of approaximately 94000 fish in the lower Fraser, up slightly from the previous few years, and we have tagged over 52000 of these fish now.

[1899]

Ate lots of sturgeon as a kid ...

Me too. We used to go down to the log booms and catch them on 20 or 40lb mono.

[yukon john]

Only ate it once a couple years back ( WA fish) it was awful, don't know why you would want to keep one. Maybe I had a bad one and they are usually good?

[warnniklz]

Someone was recently telling me that they had a buddy who's brother was a CO. He was saying you can get a scientific permit for sturgeon retention.

I've never heard of this and I've met the guy before... not really a reliable source

[1899]

Only ate it once a couple years back ( WA fish) it was awful, don't know why you would want to keep one. Maybe I had a bad one and they are usually good?

They are absolutely fantastic eating. One of our favourite ways of making them was to cut them into steaks, batter them and fry. Add a little lemon when it's done with some nice potatoes and coleslaw and you are ready to go. You must have had a bad one.

[Legi0n]

I've eaten sturgeon in Romania and it's excellent.
There you can buy it in big box stores like Metro (Costco equivalent).
Did not fish for it though.

[Wild one]

Well there are certainly not more fish now than there was in the past. There is a reason this fishery is catch and release with no retention as population numbers are significantly lower than the past. Furthermore there is a reason the lower Fraser stock have been classified as a threaten species of risk by COSEWIC. All other white sturgeon in BC are classified as endangered. Yes these fish are are extremely tough and can easlily handle catch and release as over 15 years of data indicates, however the catch and release sturgeon fishery has vertually no measurable mortality rate. There are thousands of sturgeon in all size classes that are caught and released each year and have been recaught multible times over the years. In fact some fish are recaptured, numerous times in a year. Mortality of sturgeon in the lower fraser (Hells gate to the mouth of the river) comes mainly from gill nets, predators and poaching. If i can remember correctly the current numbers indicate a population of approaximately 94000 fish in the lower Fraser, up slightly from the previous few years, and we have tagged over 52000 of these fish now.


It is hard to say if the numbers are lower now than 20-30 years ago because of the lack of knowledge and solid numbers when comes to that time. I am only going from the success rate in catching sturgeon I see now vs then so it is only an opinion. The info collected during that time was piss poor at best and was more of a guess so it is hard to judge.

You could be correct but it is hard to judge past population do to the lack of good info at that time. In my opinion it is only about the last 15 years where there has become a better understanding of sturgeon and there numbers. This is where the increase in popularity and guiding has become a good thing when it comes to collecting data in regards to sturgeon. Because of this any decisions regarding the management of these fish would have to be made by judging present populations as historical data is too poor.

I don't believe these fish could ever handle the old 1 a day or 1 a year limit but a limited tag system may be a reasonable future option if done correctly.

[limit time]

It is hard to say if the numbers are lower now than 20-30 years ago because of the lack of knowledge and solid numbers when comes to that time. I am only going from the success rate in catching sturgeon I see now vs then so it is only an opinion. The info collected during that time was piss poor at best and was more of a guess so it is hard to judge.

You could be correct but it is hard to judge past population do to the lack of good info at that time. In my opinion it is only about the last 15 years where there has become a better understanding of sturgeon and there numbers. This is where the increase in popularity and guiding has become a good thing when it comes to collecting data in regards to sturgeon. Because of this any decisions regarding the management of these fish would have to be made by judging present populations as historical data is too poor.

I don't believe these fish could ever handle the old 1 a day or 1 a year limit but a limited tag system may be a reasonable future option if done correctly.

And no mandatory tags given to guides, they need to draw also.

[Jack Russell]

^^^ yes, we really need to keep those sturgeon fishing guides in line, because you know, they are a ballsy lot that will take, take and take some more from everyone else.

A draw won't happen for sturgeon on the Fraser. Too much hassle for a limited harvest, there are political issues, and it would become an enforcement problem.

[BUCKJR]

There are far too many influential people advocating for increased knowledge on the lower Fraser Sturgeon to likely ever have a retention fishery of any kind, LEH or other. Its my opinioin that you would be hard pressed to find a reputable guide or guiding company that would ever advocate for a retention fishery anyway, not it anyones best interest, especially guides. Far to much effort has be spent on gaining knowledge through the tagging program to now start removing fish from the population your studying. The fishery has been promoted and marketed for years as a catch and release fishery and couldn't see that being changed without a substantial fight. The handling of sturgeon has now become more and more restrictive with laws just being passed stating no fish over 150cm are to enter a boat along with other sturgeon best handling proactices. How this new document will be enforced I don't know, but the province is committed to tightening the regins on this fishery. The biologists still have far to many unanswered questions regarding the species and we're seeing the information/data gathing shifting to other studies on the river. Mostly surrounding spawning habitat, juvenile rearing locations and movement of sturgeon from the river to the ocean.

[BuckEye]

I'm content with the opportunity to just drop a line so close to home with the very real possibility of catching the fish of a lifetime. If I want to eat fish I'll just go to Costco and buy some tasty Atlantic salmon fillets :tongue: