Conservation and collection efforts for the endangered Alabama sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi)

Abstract

Summary The Alabama sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi) is the rarest and most endangered sturgeon species in North America. Over an 8-year period, the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cumulatively expended 2447 man-days in efforts to collect Alabama sturgeon broodstock in an attempt to initiate a conservation propagation program. Out of nearly 29 000 fishes collected between March 1997 and May 2005, only five were Alabama sturgeon. Attempts to spawn and propagate these sturgeons were unsuccessful, and all have since died in captivity. In context with past collection efforts and anecdotal accounts, these results indicate that the Alabama sturgeon is becoming increasingly rare with the passage of time. Although there is evidence that some level of recruitment continued to occur in the Alabama River during the past decade, the increasing rarity of Alabama sturgeon suggests that mortality rates are exceeding recruitment.