Monitoring and Stocking Pallid Sturgeon

By Mark Drobish
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Efforts are underway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to monitor the endangered pallid sturgeon and a select group of other native species.

Complimentary monitoring programs track pallid sturgeon, shovelnose sturgeon, blue sucker, sicklefin, sturgeon, speckled chubs, plains minnow, sand shiner, sauger and bigmouth buffalo.  The Corps is also evaluating effects of habitat modifications (habitat diversification) within the channelized Missouri River from Ponca to the mouth of the river on these species. 

State and federal basin experts, as well as academic researchers, collaboratively developed the monitoring programs.

Stocking the pallid population

Though stocking is not a solution to recovering endangered pallid sturgeon, it is a critical piece of the puzzle. 

The Corps, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Missouri Department of Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have worked together since 2001 to enhance stocking efforts to aid recovery. 

Several hatchery improvement projects are being implemented to increase numbers of pallid sturgeon produced as well as the quality of fish being stocked. 

These fish are essential to supplement the younger year classes that are absent from the wild population. 

Stocking efforts are a stopgap until ecosystem restoration efforts (e.g., habitat, flow) provide conditions suitable for species recovery. 

More than 70,000 pallid sturgeon have been stocked below Gavins Point Dam since 2002.  Stocking will likely be necessary for at least another 15 years to provide a sufficient population to allow the species to sustain itself naturally.