Sturgeon Breeding

UMCES scientists are working with a team of researchers to - for the first time - breed a wild Chesapeake Bay sturgeon in captivity. The team is consulting with regional and national experts to insure the best possible conditions for the juvenile and mature fish. Scientists believe that if breeding efforts are successful, this groundbreaking science could jumpstart the Bay sturgeon population.
On April 29, 2007, local watermen C.R. Wilson found a 170-pound, seven and a half foot long Atlantic sturgeon in a pound net near Walnut Point at the mouth of the Choptank River on the Chesapeake Bay. This is the first time a mature female sturgeon has been observed in Maryland portion of the Bay since 1972.
As part of an ongoing partnership, the waterman notified the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about the capture, who then met the waterman at Tilghman Island and transported the fish to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Laboratory on the Choptank River outside of Cambridge.

At the laboratory, scientists have been taking care of the fish and monitoring the “ripeness” of her eggs. When she is ready to spawn, a team of scientists will mix the females eggs with sperm in hopes of spawning juveniles for study and eventual release in the Chesapeake Bay.

This is the first time scientists have attempted to breed wild Chesapeake sturgeon in a laboratory setting. While cautiously optimistic, they are pioneering the methods as they proceed. Scientists feel that the odds of a successful breeding are about 50/50.
In July, once the scientists determined the female’s eggs were ripe; eggs were collected and fertilized with cryopreserved (special freezing techniques) sperm collected in 2006. Unfortunately, no fertilization occurred. Scientists believe that the stress of capture and holding fish in smaller than ideal tanks increases stress hormones levels and reducing blood flow to eggs. Since this attempt to spawn a new project to investigate the effect of diet on broodfish health has been initiated. Several diets will be developed and tested and blood analysis will help identify levels of stress hormones, and essential fatty acids.  Since mature females are so rare, mature males will be used for this study.

To help reduce the stress of holding large sturgeon a 20 foot diameter tank is being constructed in the laboratory which will hold several fish and small ponds will be also used.