Winter 1997 report.

In the 1800s, the commercial fishery for sturgeon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary depressed the populations to the point where all fishing was prohibited in 1917. The department of Fish and Game has been monitoring sturgeon populations and angler mortality rate (percentage of the population annually caught by anglers) since 1954. In 1954, the sturgeon fishery was re-opened for sport fishing with a 40" total length (TL) minimum size and a limit of 1 fish per day in possession. Two species of sturgeon, white, Acipenser transmontanus, and green, A. medirostris, inhabit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary; White Sturgeon is the most abundant. During this time period, adult sturgeon populations have ranged from 11,200 (1954) to 128,000 (1984). The present population is estimated in the 80,000 to 100,000 range. The next estimate for 1997-98 will be finalized sometime in Nov,1998.   The angler mortality rate has varied over the years from 2% (1954), to 6.7% (1960-1970), to 9.7% (1980's). If the mortality percentage continues to go up, we are now at at angler mortality rate of 12.7%. Lets keep an eye one the rates.....it seems important..!

Because of their long life (50 to 80 yrs) and their advanced age at first spawning (females 12 to 20 yrs. in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system), Sturgeon are very vulnerable to over harvest. The increasing angler mortality rate concerned both the CDFG and the sport angling community resulting in a through study of the regulations in the 1980's and early '90s. This study focused on the survival of the female species, and her egg production. The regulations had to change to help maintain the sturgeon population and keep the sport fishery. The result was, an increase from a 40" minimum size (no max.), to the current size limit of 46" to 72". This regulation change reduced the the number of sturgeon taken by anglers by about 25%. This increased the number of eggs that are deposited in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers by about 3 fold, because the larger fish that can lay 1 million eggs are now protected from harvest and most maiden females (46" size & 100,000 eggs) can now spawn at least once in their life. The CDFG feels confident that the current regulations will protect the future of the WHITE STURGEON with no more changes in regulations needed.

Winter 1999 report.

Adult (>46") white sturgeon abundance varied greatly between 1967 and 1998. The population estimate reached it highest level (142,000) in 1997. click on attached chart for larger viewing.  

The CDFG intermittently monitors the status of white sturgeon primarily with a  mark-recapture program to estimate population and mortality rates. Legal-size sturgeon (>46") fish are captured in trammel nets in San Pablo Bay in fall and tagged with disk-dangler reward tags. The attached chart shows sizes of sturgeon netted during the 1990's. click on chart for larger viewing.