Seasonal occurrence of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) in the St. Johns River, Florida

作者：Fox Adam G; Stowe Edward S; Dunton Keith J; Peterson Douglas L^*

来源：Fishery Bulletin, 2018, 116(3-4): 219-227.

DOI：10.7755/FB.116.3.1

The Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) is an anadromous species that historically occurred in the Atlantic Ocean along the North American coast from maritime Canada to the St. Johns River, Florida. A century of overharvesting and habitat loss has resulted in range-wide population declines, and in 2012 the species was listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The extirpation of several individual populations-especially in the southeastern United States-was an important consideration in the final determination to list the species as endangered. Although historical data confirm the presence of Atlantic sturgeon in the St. Johns River, no recent evidence of a viable population exists for that river system. The primary objective of our study was to document the presence or absence of Atlantic sturgeon in the St. Johns River. During 2014-2015, we conducted nearly 200 hours of directed sampling with gill nets of different mesh sizes in the St. Johns River estuary but found no evidence of an extant population within the St. Johns River system. We did document the seasonal presence of several adult and subadult individuals that had been acoustically tagged by researchers working in other coastal systems, and that finding indicates that nonnatal individuals still use this estuary.

• 出版日期2018