Information relevant to a recovery potential assessment of lake sturgeon : Red-Assiniboine Rivers - Lake Winnipeg populations (DU4) = Renseignements pertinents pour l’évaluation du potentiel de rétablissement...: Fs70-5/2010-083-PDF

The Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) was common in nearshore waters across much of Canada in the nineteenth century, but intensive fishing, habitat loss and degraded water quality caused severe reductions in population size or extirpation across their range. Today they remain extant from the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, to Hudson Bay in the north, and eastward to the St. Lawrence River estuary. In November 2006, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed Lake Sturgeon in Canada. Designatable Unit (DU) 4, the Red-Assiniboine rivers – Lake Winnipeg populations, includes Lake Sturgeon in the Red and Assiniboine rivers, Lake Winnipeg and all eastern tributary rivers to Lake Winnipeg excluding the Winnipeg River upstream of Pine Falls. COSEWIC assessed and designated DU4 as Endangered, as Lake Sturgeon in this DU declined severely over the past century and a significant portion of their habitat has been degraded or lost, especially in the southern portion of the DU. Historically, over-exploitation from commercial fisheries was probably the primary threat, whereas more recently habitat degradation and loss associated with agriculture, urban development, dam/impoundments and other barriers and industrial activities, and bycatch from the commercial fishery on Lake Winnipeg have become the most important threats.

Permanent link to this Catalogue record:
publications.gc.ca/pub?id=9.842106&sl=0

• MARC XML format
• MARC HTML format

Request alternate formats