Overview
The lake sturgeon are designated as a species of Special Concern in Minnesota, and recovery efforts are ongoing. As the largest fish in the Great Lakes, they once spawned in Lake Superior’s largest tributary, the St. Louis River. However, lake sturgeon populations were extirpated in the early 1900s, and it has been a 40-year effort to reestablish a self-sustaining population in this historic spawning grounds. Despite decades of work, their population densities and spawning ratios remain below fishery management goals. A successful lake sturgeon rearing and stocking program can lead to a self-sustaining population, bolster biodiversity, honor their cultural significance to Indigenous communities, and engage the public with place-based conservation work.
Great Lakes Aquarium will rear lake sturgeon from egg or larval stage fish to fingerling size for release into the St. Louis River in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fond du Lac Resource Management, and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This project advances International, Federal, Tribal, and State goals to restore lake sturgeon to the Great Lakes, Lake Superior, and its tributaries, specifically the St. Louis River, a designated federal Area of Concern. Great Lakes Aquarium aims to support this restoration work by utilizing source water from the St. Louis River Estuary to facilitate juvenile sturgeon imprinting and optimize development conditions. A grow-out exhibit will extend the growth of select sturgeon and increase survival rates while creating public education experiences.
Methods
Great Lakes Aquarium will manage a USFWS lake sturgeon rearing trailer to produce juvenile lake sturgeon for FDLNR and MNDNR stocking programs. This includes overseeing facility renovations, biosecurity measures, and developing educational interpretive media.
Rearing Facility Design and Construction
- Establish a designated space for the rearing trailer provided by Iron River National Hatchery.
- Partner with aquaculture and fisheries manager experts to design a state-of-the-art flow-through system to optimize lake sturgeon rearing while ensuring system biosecurity to minimize the transfer of contaminants and aquatic invasive species.
- Install water lines from the existing St. Louis Estuary water source to a freshwater filtration system to ensure juvenile sturgeon imprint on local water chemistry, increasing the likelihood of the year class returning to spawn as adults.
- Develop and install a return filtration system for effluent discharge into the St. Louis River Estuary.
- Integrate a life support facility that connects the freshwater filtration system to the rearing trailer, grow-out exhibit, and return.
Establish Lake Sturgeon Rearing Protocols
- Incorporate Genoa National Fish Hatchery best practices and expertise from USFWS, FDLNR, and MNDNR partners for the sturgeon rearing program, including a feeding schedule, water quality management, and growth monitoring.
- Update stocking partners to coordinate the annual transfer of juvenile lake sturgeon to FDLNR and MNDNR.
- Train staff and volunteers in sturgeon rearing techniques to ensure expertise and continuity of operations during the spring-fall rearing season.
Community Engagement and Education
- Create an interactive educational exhibit showcasing the lake sturgeon grow-out tank and its migratory lifecycle throughout its Lake Superior migration.
- Design and fabricate educational media for a public walkway along the rearing trailer and the onsite interactive exhibit.
- Establish facility-wide programmatic themes to highlight the importance of wildlife restoration, St. Louis River Estuary rehabilitation, and re-establishing culturally significant populations.
- Host events, school groups, camps, and partnership outreaches to engage collaborators and local community members in the lake sturgeon rearing and release program.
Relevance
Rearing lake sturgeon with St. Louis River Estuary water at GLA combines the restoration of native fish populations to their historic spawning grounds and place-based education. This contributes to the success of several International, Federal, Tribal, and State restoration initiatives and agreements.
Explore how this proposal is consistent with relevant goals, recommendations, and plans.
- Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 2022; Sect. 941.d: Rearing lake sturgeon on their natal waters for stocking into Lake Superior to establish a stable population supports the goal to restore and maintain self-sustaining populations.
- Great Lakes Regional Collaboration: Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes: Long-term and short-term goals identify the need to address self-sustaining fish communities, including Great Lake tributaries’ lake sturgeon, supporting commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries.
- Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III Focus Areas 4 and 5: Rearing lake sturgeon for Tribal and State stocking programs contributes to the protection and restoration of native aquatic species important to the Great Lakes and supports population-level reintroductions. Additionally, interpretive media, facility programming, and public outreach will educate the next generation about the cultural and biological importance of lake sturgeon and the Great Lakes ecosystem.
- Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; Annex 7: Rearing lake sturgeon on their natal waters enhances the Agreement’s work to maintain, restore, and enhance the resilience of native species. Lake sturgeon rearing conditions will optimize development and support their return to St. Louis River spawning grounds.
- A Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for Lake Superior, A Guide to Conserving and Restoring the Health of the World’s Largest Freshwater Lake; Strategy 2: Conservation work to ensure self-sustaining populations of lake sturgeon is furthered by the rearing lake sturgeon on their natal waters and support their return to St. Louis River spawning grounds.
- Fish-Communities Objectives for Lake Superior, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, A Lake Sturgeon Rehabilitation Plan for Lake Superior: These objectives are enhanced by GLA’s lake sturgeon rearing program as it establishes a new hatchery program and enhances the opportunity to maintain spawning populations of lake sturgeon throughout their native and historic range, specifically the St. Louis River.
- Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries: The goal to manage a stable, self-sustaining fish community that provides recreational, commercial, and tribal fishing opportunities is enhanced by GLA’s lake sturgeon rearing project as it will help rehabilitate historic populations while supporting their return to St. Louis River spawning grounds.
- Minnesota’s Fishers Management Plan for the Minnesota Waters of Lake Superior 2016-2025: Rearing lake sturgeon on their natal waters furthers ongoing efforts to maintain, enhance, and restore self-sustaining lake sturgeon populations in support of their return to the St. Louis River spawning grounds. This program furthers the goal to rehabilitate the watershed and its recreational, commercial, and tribal fishing opportunities.
- Fond du Lac Natural Resources Program; Ogidaajiwan Chi-gamii-ziibi Namekaaning Aanji-nitaawigichigaazowag (Upper St. Louis River Lake Sturgeon Restoration Plan): This collaborative project provides FDLNR with fingerlings to stock the upper river system in an effort to achieve their goal of restoring a self-sustaining lake sturgeon population in the upper St. Louis River system.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded in part by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund in FY 2026/27. Click HERE for more information.
ACHF administered by Jay Walker, Executive Director and Katie Pease, Project Manager. For more information, contact: jwalker@glaquarium.org.
Funded in part by the Biodiversity Fund from Boreal Waters Community Foundation
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
Through a subaward from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Great Lakes Aquarium received financial support from the EPA.
Subaward administered Jay Walker, Executive Director and Katie Pease, Project Manager. For more information, contact: jwalker@glaquarium.org.