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STURGEON
IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
White
sturgeon are found throughout the Fraser River watershed from
the rivers mouth near Vancouver ,all the way upstream to McBride
near the Alberta border, a distance of over 1000km.
They also occupy many of the larger tributary streams of the
Fraser watershed, including the Nechako River.
Click on the map
to see larger size.
Click on the map
to see a larger size.
FOUR
DISTINCT POPULATIONS
Information
collected, over the last decade, on the movement and genetics
of the White Sturgeon in the Fraser River watershed, has yielded
some interesting findings. There appears to be four
separate populations of white sturgeon in the Fraser that
don't interbreed, and have all adapted to different sections
of the rivershed.
Four
Distinct Populations in the Fraser River Watershed
- White
sturgeon residing below Hell's Gate.
- White
sturgeon residing above Hell's Gate to Quesnel.
- White
sturgeon residing above Quesnel to the Fraser’s headwaters.
- White
sturgeon residing in Nechako River , a tributary to the
Fraser which joins the Fraser at Prince George .
STUART
RIVER
The
Stuart River is the largest tributary to the Nechako River
. It contains a number of large lakes, including Takla, Trembleur
and Stuart. First Nations, and more recently others, have
utilized white sturgeon from the Stuart River watershed. Scientists
have not been able to determine the relationship between the
sturgeon in the Stuart watershed, and those in the Nechako
River, but research is ongoing.
Why
do Fraser and Columbia White Sturgeon populations have similar
DNA ?
Answer
: The
Fraser and Columbia river were once joined together before
the last ice age. After the ice age, mountains formed separating
the two rivers and their fish from intermixing. There have
now been a few documented instances of sturgeon migrating
from the Columbia to the Fraser.
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