(WXYZ) — Researchers are out on Lake St. Clair conducting sturgeon surveys as the summer nears an end, and during this survey, several six-foot or longer sturgeons have been captured.
Andrew Briggs, a fisheries research biologist who works primarily in the St. Clair and Detroit River ecosystems, has been posting updates from the survey over the past few days.
"We conduct a couple sturgeon surveys throughout the year and they are done to help monitor the population size and demographics of the population," Briggs said. "We measure and tag the fish prior to releasing them, with the tagging efforts allowing us to estimate population size and the trajectory of the population."
On Thursday, Briggs posted that they had another "BIG FISH ALERT," saying the crew captured the new largest fish by weight of the survey. The 73-inch fish — equal to six-feet-one-inch — came in weighing 120 pounds
So far, the crew has caught 18 lake sturgeon, and have caught about 100 sturgeon for the year, Briggs said.
On Tuesday, Briggs posted that they caught three lake sturgeon weighing more than 100 pounds each.
"This is the most 100+ pound Lake Sturgeon we have ever caught in a single day during our station’s survey efforts," Briggs wrote. "The fish went 102 (69” long, 33” girth), 103 (72” long, 31” girth), and 110 (75” long, 31” girth) pounds."
Briggs tells 7 News Detroit that during this survey, they are also tagging fish with acoustic telemetry tags, which allows the crews to monitor the movements of the fish.
The survey will finish up Friday, Briggs said, and then they will resume surveying for sturgeon for a few days in October.
