Lake Sturgeon Spawning | DISCOVERING

Episode 93 - Wrangling 100+ pound lake sturgeon to collect eggs and milt to help restore sturgeon populations across the Lake Superior region. Here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, collaborative conservation efforts like this have helped keep lake sturgeon recently off the Endangered Species List.

This spring I was on the Sturgeon River during the lake sturgeon spawn with a team of natural resource agencies who work together to collect sturgeon eggs and larvae to raise and release in the fall as juvenile fish in the Ontonagon River system here in the U.P. and the St. Louis River between Wisconsin and Minnesota. It took multiple days, spread across multiple weeks to try to get enough fertilized eggs and larvae they need.