TOLEDO, Ohio — In 2018, ecologists released thousands of palm-sized lake sturgeon into the Maumee River in hopes of re-establishing the species in the waters it once called home.
Five years later, ecologists said while it’s still too soon to call the two-decade plan a success there are promising early signs.
Research led by the University of Toledo and published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management tracked the first-year survival rates for cohorts released in 2018, 2019 and 2021. According to a news release, the results suggest that the initiative is on track to achieve the goal of a self-sustaining population of 1,500 naturally reproducing sturgeon by 2038…