The Fish
The white sturgeon is the largest freshwater fish in North America--and one of the biggest in the world. Exceptional specimens may span 20 feet and weigh over 1,500 pounds. These striking-looking fish, part of an ancient family, actually use both freshwater and marine environments, maturing in the ocean and spawning in interior rivers and streams. In addition to its great size, white sturgeon can live a long time: more than a century.
Sturgeon and People
Indigenous peoples of western North America have long fished for white sturgeon in inland drainages like the Columbia River system. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who led the Corps of Discovery in its expedition to the Pacific Ocean, wrote of Indians on the Columbia's Puget Sound fishing sturgeon in March 1806.
Conservation
Commercial fishing for sturgeon, partly for caviar, helped threaten the fish's numbers, along with waterway modifications along its extensive spawning routes. In recent decades, much effort by federal, state and tribal agencies has been dedicated to restoring sturgeon habitat and populations.
