Sturgeon thriving in German-Polish border river

Sep 26, 2007, 11:25 GMT

Hohensaaten, Germany - Sturgeon are thriving in the border river between Germany and Poland, four months after hundreds of the caviar-producing fish were released into the water, the head of the project said Wednesday.

A decade of preparation has gone into the binational bid to re- acclimatize the fish, 40 years after pollution killed the last Baltic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) in the Oder river.

'This attempt is promising,' said Joern Gessner at Hohensaaten, north-east of Berlin, where 250 young sturgeon were released three months ago. In May, a tankful had been released in a Polish tributary of the river.

River fishermen had reported seeing them bigger grown.

'We've surpassed the most critical phase,' said Gessner, saying the estimated 500 sturgeon were now big enough to keep clear of carnivorous fish.

The principal problem in future would be to keep the river open. Sturgeon, which live 40 to 60 years, migrate between fresh water and the sea, and cannot pass dams.

Another 250 are to be released in October at the place where the Neisse, also a border river, enters the Oder. The 50-centimetre fish have radio transmitters with enough battery life to reveal their locations for four weeks.

Sturgeon feed on crabs and snails and do not reach reproductive maturity till the age of 13 or 14, according to Gessner.

'If this works out, we'll be able to release 100,000 young sturgeon,' Gessner said.

European nations are keen to restore the big fish as a sign that they have won the battle against water pollution. Germans used to eat the fish as a delicacy.

Gessner said a decision was expected this autumn on whether to attempt acclimatizing North Sea sturgeon in a river in Germany, the Elbe, which has its headwaters in the Czech Republic.