Vulnerability

The shovelnose sturgeon is considered to be a vulnerable species in the United States. In the early 1900's over 30,000 sturgeons were harvested per year, but you can no longer commercially harvest them in some states. With that being said, they are still caught for  sport fishing. The high demand came from over harvesting the caviar of other sturgeon around the world. They were forced to look for  alternative fish such as the shovelnose sturgeon. On top of the high caviar demands, in the mid 1900's shovelnose sturgeon were also considered pests because they would get caught in nets meant for lake sturgeon. When they were caught like this they were usually left on land to die.

Figure 4. Shovelnose sturgeon eggs harvested and used for caviar Wisconsin DNR August 31 2012.

 

 

Other shovelnose sturgeon vulnerabilities that involve humans are overfishing, pollution, temperature alterations, and water flow change. Shovelnose sturgeon habitats are also being intruded upon by human water development plans such as dams and industrial projects. (Koch et al,2009)

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