This is one whopper of a fish tale.
A sturgeon weighing in at 335.9 pounds (152.2 kilograms) was caught recently by a staff member of the Nechako White Sturgeon Conservation Centre (NWSCC).
The female sturgeon, the largest ever caught by centre, will be spawned later this year at the conservation facility in Vanderhoof.
Sturgeon live in B.C. rivers and lakes and are among the world’s largest and oldest freshwater fish. They’ve been known to grow up to 18 feet (5.5 metres) and weigh as much as 4,400 lbs (2,000 kg). Their lifespan averages 50-60 years and some have lived as long as 100 years.
The NWSCC is sponsoring a contest to name its latest big catch. Go to the centre’s Facebook page @NWSRI to enter. The deadline for submissions is next Thursday.
The conservation centre announced Friday its annual release of juvenile sturgeon will be closed to the public this year. In previous years, students from the region were given the opportunity to individually name the spawned sturgeon and participate in their release into the Nechako River in an event in Vanderhoof.
This year, the release into the Nechako River and Fraser Lake will be a virtual event, which will still allow students to name the two-year-old sturgeon and learn about their behaviour and characteristics through educational kits and online materials. Each of the 200 juvenile sturgeon will be tagged with a number to allow easy identification if later captured. Fifty of the spawned fish will have radio tags attached for tracking using radio telemetry, while 20 will wear acoustic tags that aid in remote tracking.
Sturgeon are considered an endangered species and the centre strives for their return to a healthy population while conducting research about them.
