Nearly 300 people helped release 975 juvenile white sturgeon at Shelter Bay yesterday, including elementary school students from Enderby, Nakusp, and Revelstoke.
Everyone had the opportunity to release the three year old sturgeon, which weighed around 450 grams each, into Arrow Lakes.
The event that was organized by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program with support from the Revelstoke Rod and Gun Club, the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C., Columbia Power and BC Hydro.
White Sturgeon are Red-listed provincially and federally listed under the Species at Risk Act as endangered.
The population of sturgeon in Arrow Lakes Reservoir is estimated at roughly 50 adults, so the stocking of juvenile sturgeon is an important component to help the endangered species recover.
The juveniles were raised in the Freshwater Fish Society’s Kootenay hatchery, from wild larvae that were collected in the Columbia River in 2015.
More than 60,000 juveniles have been released in Arrow Lakes Reservoir since 2007.
The sturgeon aquaculture program is funded by BC Hydro.
The Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program is a partnership between BC Hydro, the Province of B.C., Fisheries and Oceans Canada, First Nations, and Public Stakeholders to conserve and enhance fish and wildlife in watersheds impacted by BC Hydro dams.
