Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Wildlife and Fisheries Resources

Committee Chair

Amy Welsh

Committee Co-Chair

Dave Kazyak

Committee Member

Dave Kazyak

Committee Member

Stuart Welsh

Abstract

Atlantic sturgeon are a long-lived anadromous fish that ranged from Labrador, Canada to Florida, US. Due to overharvest in the late 1800’s and 1900’s, Atlantic sturgeon populations across the coast experienced a dramatic population crash. Recovery of this species has faced challenges due to anthropogenic threats, such as vessel strikes, bycatch, and habitat degradation. In 2012, Atlantic sturgeon were added to the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the ESA, populations were listed as five distinct population segments (DPS), reflecting their geographic arrangement and genetic structure: Gulf of Maine DPS (threatened), New York Bight DPS (endangered), Chesapeake DPS (endangered), Carolina DPS (endangered), and South Atlantic DPS (endangered). As sub-adults and adults, Atlantic sturgeon migrate along the eastern coast of the United States and into Canada, temporarily inhabiting marine, estuarine, and riverine habitats. These migrations often lead to the formation of mixed-stock aggregations, with individuals from different populations cooccurring in space and time. Genetic assignment testing was used to relate individuals sampled in the Atlantic Ocean Delaware to their natal population. In this aggregation, individual sturgeon from each of the five DPS were detected. Next, we used telemetry data from the assigned Atlantic sturgeon to compare the upriver movement patterns between natal and non-natal fish into the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. Statistically significant differences were found between the upriver movement patterns of natal and non-natal Atlantic sturgeon in both rivers (Hudson, p=0.016; Delaware, p=1.56x10-11). Differences in upriver travel were also compared between males and females, where males tended to travel further upriver than females for both natal and non-natal individuals (p.05).

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