The picture in your article is not of one of the first sturgeon captured in the James River in decades. By the time VCU caught this fish, local fishermen and VIMS had captured nearly 500 and documented capture of well over a thousand sturgeon through a multi-year Virginia Sea Grant bycatch reduction study. And 65 fish had already been (32 sub-adults and 33 adults) implanted with transmitters and tracked within the James River acoustic array deployed since 2005. The picture is, however, one of the first large fish that VCU captured sometime around 2011.

I am also the contractor who is conducting sturgeon research in collaboration with the US Navy. The Navy’s array consists of over 75 receivers deployed throughout the York River, the James River, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Receivers are not all on USCG buoys nor are these buoys congruently collecting physical data.

Some natural history also needs correction. Sturgeon do have natural predators and are documented as having been consumed by seals and sharks. More importantly for our area, it is feared that young sturgeon and eggs are currently being consumed by the ever expanding population of invasive blue catfish that fill many of its native spawning grounds. As you mentioned, the species is anadromous and thus requires fresh water in order to spawn. They are, therefore, not spawning outside of the James River in the Chesapeake Bay but well within the confines of the river’s fresh water habitats. They are also spawning in the York River system and there is strong evidence that they are spawning in some Maryland tributaries.

Please consider me as a source of reliable sturgeon research information in the future.

Thank you — Mr. Creed has made the correction. –EDITOR