Releasing Lake sturgeon in the Maumee River
Lake sturgeon play a crucial role in maintaining healthy, biodiverse ecosystems. Once abundant in the Maumee River during the 1800s, their population has since rapidly declined due to increased demand for caviar and commercial overfishing. Ohio currently lacks a known reproducing population of lake sturgeon.
The Toledo Zoo is proud to host Ohio’s first streamside rearing facility for the recovery of lake sturgeon. We rear thousands of lake sturgeon from eggs collected in U.S. and Canadian waters until they reach about four months old, or 6–7 inches. At that point, the sturgeon are released into the Maumee River, where their population is monitored by fisheries biologists from the Ohio Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The goal is to leverage the species’ homing ability, encouraging the sturgeon to return to the Maumee River to spawn in about 20 years. As of early 2025, the zoo and its partners have released 18,000 lake sturgeon into local waters.
Each year, our conservation staff implants PIT tags into 1,500 lake sturgeon, providing a permanent form of identification. During Sturgeon Fest, visitors can release sturgeon directly into the Maumee River and have the option to sponsor a fish by linking their name to its PIT tag. When the fish are recaptured, scientists record their tag numbers, length, and weight. So far, over 30 lake sturgeon have been recaptured from previous releases, with the longest fish growing to ~22” in three years!
Spot A Sturgeon? Click here to help us monitor recovery efforts by reporting sightings to ODNR.
