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rebeccmeisterIt's a little hard to believe it was just a week ago that I was up in Herland Forest with my mom and brother, visiting my dad's grave.
The morning after, we headed towards Portland for the SICB meeting. There was no reason to hurry to Portland, so we made several stops along the way, ostensibly so my brother could look for swans, but also to satisfy our curiosity about roadside attractions along the Columbia River. My mom remarked that she enjoyed traveling with us as adults, based on our willingness to make stops to satisfy our curiosity.
So that's how we wound up at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.
The highlight of the fish hatchery was the white sturgeon ponds. Prior to visiting the ponds, my knowledge of sturgeon was limited to an awareness that there used to be a lot of sturgeon in the Hudson River (Atlantic sturgeon), but there aren't many anymore due to historic overfishing. And that they are large and prehistoric.
The sturgeon ponds had a nice viewing house so I could appreciate the sturgeon more easily:
But the above photo doesn't give you a proper sense of scale. Let me try again.
After I posted one of these photos on social media elsewhere,annikusrex shared an article with me about efforts by the Yakima Nation to restore and sustain white sturgeon populations in the Columbia.
It sounds like a major uphill battle, but on the other hand this type of undertaking gives me a certain amount of hope for the future. There are people willing to commit to the long, hard, slow, expensive work of restoring their homelands and traditional livelihoods. I also never knew that sturgeon are prized as a source for caviar. And that sturgeon eggs can be harvested catch-and-release style. That might actually make me inclined to try caviar at some point.
The hatchery visit made me curious about what's happening on the hatchery/restoration front for the Atlantic Sturgeon. Wikipedia says Atlantic sturgeon are generally threatened across the four major ecoregions where they're found. I was also able to find information about some of the fish hatcheries in New York, including one in Warren County. But it appears that, at present, there is only a single hatchery focused on Atlantic sturgeon on the Eastern Seaboard, located in North Carolina or thereabouts.
I can't say I'm all that surprised, even if I am disappointed. Much of the sediment in the Hudson is still so polluted that it is unwise to eat fish that live in the river. So, if the Hudson River fish can't be eaten, the main focus for fish hatcheries is more likely on sport fishing and stocking lakes and ponds. Beyond that, it sure looks like sturgeon are challenging fish to rear based on their size and longevity, and they may not have an East Coast Yakima Nation equivalent, for all I know.
There was one last odd coincidence, in all of this learning about sturgeon. Apparently there's a Columbia Riverkeeper organization, completely unrelated to Hudson Riverkeeper? That just makes me wonder how the organizations compare with respect to the scope of the work they do. I'm not particularly involved in the Hudson Riverkeeper, mostly because most of that organization's focus is on downstream portions of the river. Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of items in need of attention downriver. It's just that very little is happening along the section of river between Troy and Hudson.
The morning after, we headed towards Portland for the SICB meeting. There was no reason to hurry to Portland, so we made several stops along the way, ostensibly so my brother could look for swans, but also to satisfy our curiosity about roadside attractions along the Columbia River. My mom remarked that she enjoyed traveling with us as adults, based on our willingness to make stops to satisfy our curiosity.
So that's how we wound up at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.
The highlight of the fish hatchery was the white sturgeon ponds. Prior to visiting the ponds, my knowledge of sturgeon was limited to an awareness that there used to be a lot of sturgeon in the Hudson River (Atlantic sturgeon), but there aren't many anymore due to historic overfishing. And that they are large and prehistoric.
The sturgeon ponds had a nice viewing house so I could appreciate the sturgeon more easily:
But the above photo doesn't give you a proper sense of scale. Let me try again.
After I posted one of these photos on social media elsewhere,
annikusrex shared an article with me about efforts by the Yakima Nation to restore and sustain white sturgeon populations in the Columbia.It sounds like a major uphill battle, but on the other hand this type of undertaking gives me a certain amount of hope for the future. There are people willing to commit to the long, hard, slow, expensive work of restoring their homelands and traditional livelihoods. I also never knew that sturgeon are prized as a source for caviar. And that sturgeon eggs can be harvested catch-and-release style. That might actually make me inclined to try caviar at some point.
The hatchery visit made me curious about what's happening on the hatchery/restoration front for the Atlantic Sturgeon. Wikipedia says Atlantic sturgeon are generally threatened across the four major ecoregions where they're found. I was also able to find information about some of the fish hatcheries in New York, including one in Warren County. But it appears that, at present, there is only a single hatchery focused on Atlantic sturgeon on the Eastern Seaboard, located in North Carolina or thereabouts.
I can't say I'm all that surprised, even if I am disappointed. Much of the sediment in the Hudson is still so polluted that it is unwise to eat fish that live in the river. So, if the Hudson River fish can't be eaten, the main focus for fish hatcheries is more likely on sport fishing and stocking lakes and ponds. Beyond that, it sure looks like sturgeon are challenging fish to rear based on their size and longevity, and they may not have an East Coast Yakima Nation equivalent, for all I know.
There was one last odd coincidence, in all of this learning about sturgeon. Apparently there's a Columbia Riverkeeper organization, completely unrelated to Hudson Riverkeeper? That just makes me wonder how the organizations compare with respect to the scope of the work they do. I'm not particularly involved in the Hudson Riverkeeper, mostly because most of that organization's focus is on downstream portions of the river. Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of items in need of attention downriver. It's just that very little is happening along the section of river between Troy and Hudson.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 08:17 pm (UTC)The Susquehanna is dammed pretty close to its mouth, but there are plenty of smaller rivers feeding into the Chesapeake that might provide suitable habitat.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 09:03 pm (UTC)Most of the rivers on the East Coast have heavy metals in their sediments, which rules them out. (Barring expensive efforts to dredge them.) The "advantage" of the Chesapeake there is that the Conowingo hydropower dam on the Susquehanna has trapped all that stuff in its reservior. So, the Bay has a low concentration of heavy metals.
The disadvantage is that nobody, not the owner of the dam -- Excelon, a power company -- nor any of the governments wants to pay to dredge the reservoir, so one day, flooding is gonna wash all the sediment into the Chesapeake.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 08:50 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-10 09:08 pm (UTC)Believe it or not, those are smallish ones. Atlantic sturgeons can reach up to 15 feet -- that we know of.
>>efforts by the Yakima Nation to restore and sustain white sturgeon populations in the Columbia.<<
I'm for it.
>>Much of the sediment in the Hudson is still so polluted that it is unwise to eat fish that live in the river. <<
Have you noticed how much wild food has become unsafe to eat? Bison and other wild cattle-types: mad cow disease. Whitetail deer, elk, other cervids: chronic wasting disease. Fish in polluted water. And so on. >_< At least it's not Europe with radioactive wild boar roaming the whole continent. O_O
>>It's just that very little is happening along the section of river between Troy and Hudson.<<
That's probably why there are so many organizations: people would realize that the one they found didn't cover their territory and start a new one.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-11 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-11 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-12 03:21 pm (UTC)