DEC wraps 2024 part of its sturgeon fish study

CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) -The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) finished its second of three summer studies of sturgeon fish on Friday afternoon. Sturgeons have one of the largest populations in the Hudson River during the spawning season as an endangered species.

Historians say the sturgeon fish has likely been fished ever since humans learned how. Its large size and weight were desirable to Native Americans on the Hudson River, which left European settlers in awe during the 17th century.

"In the 18th century, they would salt and smoke it, but in the early 19th century, there was the development of canning and at that point, it became even more common," explained Kathryn Kosto, Executive Director of the Albany County Historical Association.

Kosto says sturgeon was so popular that it was nicknamed "Albany beef"; companies even attempted to trademark the term. Back then, fish was a common meal for everyday people. "Fish eaters was actually a pejorative term that was used particularly towards Catholic populations, for example. Fish was essentially the food of the working class."

Exports to Europe added to the strain on sturgeon fish. The DEC says they haven't been fished coastwide since 1998 due to the endangered status. Fisheries Biologist, Amanda Higgs, says this has allowed researchers to finally gather information on them.

"It's hard to know what actual size they can get because we've been kind of suppressing them the entire time," stated Higgs. Sturgeons are currently known to grow around up to eight feet long and 800 pounds, sometimes larger.

Fisheries biologists have been tagging and releasing sturgeon in the Hudson since mid-May. Their efforts totaled up to 200 sturgeons, but only three females. "Females don't return to the river their first time to spawn sometimes until they're 20 years old. Very, very susceptible to overfishing. If you just keep taking them, they don't have a chance to reproduce enough."

The DEC will be wrapping up the three-year research project in 2025. Its fisheries biologists plan to have an updated population count published in a few years. The previous report of around 450 sturgeon was from 2014 and published in 2020.