GREAT OUTDOORS: Sandusky River stocked with 750 lake sturgeon fingerlings

FREMONT — As light rain fell Wednesday morning, about 90 people gathered to witness the first-ever stocking of lake sturgeon into the Sandusky River. The fish dates back 200 million years to the Jurassic Period. The Ohio Division of Wildlife's Sandusky Fisheries Research Station supervisor Eric Weimer and Lake Erie fish administrator Travis Hartman spoke to those who attended this historic event. They included media representatives, charter captains, wildlife employees and others with a professional or academic interest. Weimer instructed students from Clyde, Liberty-Benton and Whitmer high schools how to safely release the fish individually from small buckets into the river and encouraged them to remember their role in this historic occasion. Hartman relayed how the removal of the Ballville Dam in 2018 allows fish to migrate to additional high-quality spawning habitat, along with restored natural hydrology, and is leading to downstream substrate transport to sections of the river that had previously reverted to starved bedrock. He added, "Stocking lake sturgeon in the Sandusky River is reflective of the recovery of the whole watershed." A total of 750 fingerlings, each uniquely identifiable with internal tags, readable with the use of a handheld scanner, were released into the river at the Darr-Root Fishing Access. It is Ohio's third Lake Erie tributary to receive this onc- common but now endangered fish species through the partnership of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ODNR/Division of Wildlife; U.S. Geological Survey; Genoa National Fish Hatchery; University of Toledo; and other conservationists. By stocking sturgeon for 25 years into suitable Lake Erie tributaries, the hope is that stocking will no longer be necessary after the species is able to create a self-sustaining population. Age to sexual maturity and lifespans varied by location and between the sexes in recent life studies conducted by researchers in the U.S. and Canada. Female sturgeon take about 20-25 years to become sexually mature, usually only spawn once every 3-4 years and can live from 80 to as old as 150 years. Male sturgeon mature sooner, in 15-20 years, make spawning runs on average every two years, and often live about 55 years. Lake sturgeon were once abundant lakewide, but dams that blocked their access to spawning sites, siltation and other water quality degradation, then overfishing caused catches to drop from 5.2 million pounds in 1885 to only hundreds by the early 1900s. After consulting with published fisheries references that documented where the species historically spawned and a habitat suitability study, the Maumee was chosen as the initial river to stock in 2018. After similar habitat suitability studies were completed in the Cuyahoga and Sandusky rivers, the Cuyahoga had a trial stocking of 60 of lake sturgeon for the first time last year and on October 4, 2025, another 2,000 were released at three sites there. This followed the removal of the Gorge and other dams that would have prevented passage upstream to former sturgeon spawning sites. The removal of the Ballville Dam opened the Sandusky River for another 22 miles to Tiffin, benefitting spawning walleyes, white bass and many other fish species. This week's inaugural stocking of lake sturgeon beat out sauger, a formerly abundant and now extirpated commercial and recreational native fish species that is slated to be reintroduced to the Sandusky River next year. It is hoped that this close relative of the walleye will re-establish a resident and spawning population again. Meanwhile, the Ohio Division of Wildlife has plans in the river to try to seasonally deter the upstream passage of grass carp during their spawning season. This invasive species can degrade habitat by damaging aquatic vegetation used by game fish species. They will use a combination of acoustic signals and bubble curtains after the earlier walleye or white bass spawning runs are finished.