the white sturgeon of the upper Columbia
River is an endangered species but I
just hit the jackpot struggling I’m with
Larry Hill abandoned his team and we’ve
caught a beautiful adult fish the
question is is it a female oh it’s big
the only way to find out is to examine
the fish surgically so while the guys
set up though are I make sure the fish
isn’t stressed it’s a beautiful fish and
is that classic slender sturgeon shape
these big fins yeah it’s almost like
wings the fish is almost using these
things like wings to Orient’s itself
into the current but when these fish
feed I mean they look like a fighter
pilot don’t they with their pectoral
fins out it is just flying through the
water historically sturgeon get much of
their food from the ocean in the lower
things on the Columbia they actually do
go into the saltwater the bracket water
area for feeding interv anyone on what
the resources or business fish here has
no chance to get down to the officiator
has never been to the ocean because
there’s 14 dams between here and the in
the Pacific yeah this population had to
adapt to being cut off from that rich
ocean diet which might explain why the
fish I’ve seen here are smaller than I
expected the team is ready first we’ll
get the basics without bullets the bus
back no wait length and girth this
information goes into a database that
monitors sturgeon caught on the Columbia
125 corrected hundred 195 pounds
subtracting the way to the stretcher
that makes this fish 115 pounds size 14
hook size 14 hook it’s okay there okay
checking for a pit tag there’s a new
fish you haven’t handled it before tag
tag we need to get a message you need to
get 40 on this so as if why don’t you
hold out right at the tip of the snow
okay red stuff I’m gonna take it out a
bit the fork length is 177 1.77 meter is
almost exactly 6 feet so mega fish but
that’s the problem all the wild sturgeon
here are adults so so there have it
there’s been no reproduction these fish
these large adult fish have not been
able to reproduce since the dams one in
the 1960s that they haven’t been able to
reproduce enough young to replace
themselves in the population and that
means the population of these large
individuals is declining every year
getting older this is aging getting
older and older they can’t these fish
can’t reproduce eventually they can go
extinct exactly the dams on this river
have interfered with the sturgeons
ability to reproduce what I want to know
is how i’m just going to disinfect the
area right now i’m hoping that this fish
will give me a clue it’s remarkably calm
they are but every once awhile they will
explode okay let’s get on these fish
squid Thicke’s will make a very shallow
incision just allow me to grab on and
then i can lift the body wall away from
the organs just be a little safer so
you’ve gone through the skin and now
you’re the fish scene is called and the
procedure is sterile but we have to work
fast inside the body family just into
the body cavity now I’m going to look
inside with the otoscope which is what a
doctor would used to look in your ears
for instant do you have any sense
whether it’s male or female I do know
there’s eggs inside the otoscope this
fish is uh likely to spawn this year oh
my that’s amazing i would that answers
one question for me
the sturgeon here are generating eggs if
I would not have respect there there’s
so many eggs in there I can’t see more
than about a centimeter this is great
the team will now tag her with an
electronic transmitter so they can track
her during spawning to learn if and
where she deposits her eggs so this is a
sonic tag this tag has a life of about
10 years these are long-lived finished
yet and we will get a lot of information
i can see that she’s still breathing
strong her heels are moving so the tags
in just sooo true it up sit her up and
get her back in the river you look like
you know you’re doing so do you humans
too or just fish then you want to
release it yeah I think I think she’s
still have some energy yeah really
though he’s ready to go yeah obviously
it’s a little bit tired now try to get a
little bit of oxygen through its gills
it’s just a beautiful fish and I think
she’s ready to go so I guess it’s time
to say goodbye sweeping get her to swim
away Wow there we go look at that
River is an endangered species but I
just hit the jackpot struggling I’m with
Larry Hill abandoned his team and we’ve
caught a beautiful adult fish the
question is is it a female oh it’s big
the only way to find out is to examine
the fish surgically so while the guys
set up though are I make sure the fish
isn’t stressed it’s a beautiful fish and
is that classic slender sturgeon shape
these big fins yeah it’s almost like
wings the fish is almost using these
things like wings to Orient’s itself
into the current but when these fish
feed I mean they look like a fighter
pilot don’t they with their pectoral
fins out it is just flying through the
water historically sturgeon get much of
their food from the ocean in the lower
things on the Columbia they actually do
go into the saltwater the bracket water
area for feeding interv anyone on what
the resources or business fish here has
no chance to get down to the officiator
has never been to the ocean because
there’s 14 dams between here and the in
the Pacific yeah this population had to
adapt to being cut off from that rich
ocean diet which might explain why the
fish I’ve seen here are smaller than I
expected the team is ready first we’ll
get the basics without bullets the bus
back no wait length and girth this
information goes into a database that
monitors sturgeon caught on the Columbia
125 corrected hundred 195 pounds
subtracting the way to the stretcher
that makes this fish 115 pounds size 14
hook size 14 hook it’s okay there okay
checking for a pit tag there’s a new
fish you haven’t handled it before tag
tag we need to get a message you need to
get 40 on this so as if why don’t you
hold out right at the tip of the snow
okay red stuff I’m gonna take it out a
bit the fork length is 177 1.77 meter is
almost exactly 6 feet so mega fish but
that’s the problem all the wild sturgeon
here are adults so so there have it
there’s been no reproduction these fish
these large adult fish have not been
able to reproduce since the dams one in
the 1960s that they haven’t been able to
reproduce enough young to replace
themselves in the population and that
means the population of these large
individuals is declining every year
getting older this is aging getting
older and older they can’t these fish
can’t reproduce eventually they can go
extinct exactly the dams on this river
have interfered with the sturgeons
ability to reproduce what I want to know
is how i’m just going to disinfect the
area right now i’m hoping that this fish
will give me a clue it’s remarkably calm
they are but every once awhile they will
explode okay let’s get on these fish
squid Thicke’s will make a very shallow
incision just allow me to grab on and
then i can lift the body wall away from
the organs just be a little safer so
you’ve gone through the skin and now
you’re the fish scene is called and the
procedure is sterile but we have to work
fast inside the body family just into
the body cavity now I’m going to look
inside with the otoscope which is what a
doctor would used to look in your ears
for instant do you have any sense
whether it’s male or female I do know
there’s eggs inside the otoscope this
fish is uh likely to spawn this year oh
my that’s amazing i would that answers
one question for me
the sturgeon here are generating eggs if
I would not have respect there there’s
so many eggs in there I can’t see more
than about a centimeter this is great
the team will now tag her with an
electronic transmitter so they can track
her during spawning to learn if and
where she deposits her eggs so this is a
sonic tag this tag has a life of about
10 years these are long-lived finished
yet and we will get a lot of information
i can see that she’s still breathing
strong her heels are moving so the tags
in just sooo true it up sit her up and
get her back in the river you look like
you know you’re doing so do you humans
too or just fish then you want to
release it yeah I think I think she’s
still have some energy yeah really
though he’s ready to go yeah obviously
it’s a little bit tired now try to get a
little bit of oxygen through its gills
it’s just a beautiful fish and I think
she’s ready to go so I guess it’s time
to say goodbye sweeping get her to swim
away Wow there we go look at that
Please follow and like us: