Environmental Importance of Sturgeon

Besides sharks, sturgeon are the largest fish species in the Bay and were once a dominant benthic predator. Early life stages of sturgeon live in the bottom habitat, and are especially sensitive to poor water quality. This characteristic of sturgeon and the eutrophication, sedimentation and subsequent hypoxia problem in the Bay, make sturgeon an important bio-indicator species. If young sturgeon are present it indicates that the habitat is adequate for survival and growth. Healthy sturgeon can mean a healthy bay habitat.

Historical significance

Sturgeon fossil records date back more than 150 million years, making them some of the oldest vertebrates. Sturgeon are one of a few Jurassic fish species still in existence today, with 26 species distributed in cold to temperate climates of the northern hemisphere. Eight species are found in North America. Two species, the Atlantic Acipenser oxyrhynchus and shortnose Acipenser brevirostrum, are native to Chesapeake Bay, with natural ranges from Canada to Florida. Both species were an important food source for native Americans. They were also of significant commercial importance in the past, being harvested primarily for their highly prized roe or caviar. In the late 1880's, Atlantic sturgeon was an important cash crop with a peak harvest of about 7 million pounds, of which about 10% was harvested from Chesapeake Bay. The commercial catch declined rapidly after the turn of the century, with annual harvests from 1905 to the 1990s amounting to less than 5% of the record catch.