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)