A wrong-way Atlantic sturgeon is in back in its home river following a recent rescue in south Augusta.
Answering a citizen’s call on May 23, DNR fisheries biologist Aaron Gray met the caller at the Old Waynesboro Road bridge crossing Spirit Creek. The 6-foot-long fish circled in a small pool below.
Considering that the creek had been higher from recent rains, Gray said the sturgeon likely swam up the Savannah River, took a wrong turn into Spirit Creek, a tributary to the river, “and was stuck when the waters receded.”
From left, DNR’s Aaron Gray with the sturgeon, netting in Spirit Creek and UGA’s Dr. Adam Fox and others measuring the fish (DNR and UGA)
Atlantic sturgeon are ancient, endangered and anadromous. Adults live in the ocean but return to the rivers where they hatched to spawn. Found on the Atlantic Coast from Florida to Canada, these prehistoric fish documented in 70-million-year-old fossils suffered from overfishing for their eggs – a rich source of caviar – in the late 1800s and early 1900s (also see: “Dinosaurs on the Oconee” in the March 2024 Georgia Wild newsletter). Habitat loss and fragmentation from dams, dredging and degraded water quality contributed to the decline. In the Southeast, the Savannah River remains a key waterway for the species, ranking below only the Altamaha and possibly South Carolina’s Pee Dee River in numbers.
But Gray knew the Spirit Creek sturgeon was short on time. The initial caller said it had been there more than a week. Another person later told Gray he saw the sturgeon in the creek on April 28.
With little to no food and the water warming, “It was basically just swimming laps in that pool,” Gray said.
He began what turned into a flurry of phone calls and emails. UGA’s Dr. Adam Fox, whose Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources lab studies anadromous sturgeon, acquired the needed permits. Gray and fisheries technician Greg Abercrombie lined up the truck at DNR’s McDuffie Fish Hatchery with the largest fish tank.
The next morning, DNR staff including Gray, Abercrombie and fisheries Region Supervisor Hunter Roop, along with Fox Lab members, waded into the creek with seine nets. Game wardens managed traffic and onlookers on the bridge. It took about an hour to catch, measure and tag the sturgeon. Water was pumped through the 500-gallon tank, first from the creek and later from the Savannah River, to acclimate the fish and reduce the risk of shock.
After being driven to the boat ramp at New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam and getting used to the cooler waters of the river, it was eased into the Savannah and released.
Fox thinks the sturgeon, which he estimated from its size at over 20 years old, was a post-spawn female (pending results from genetic analysis will confirm the sex). Fox also believes she’ll be OK.
“She was a little skinny and a little beat up, but she swam away just fine.”
The sturgeon is sporting both a PIT tag, that can be read if the fish is caught again, and an acoustic transmitter. Over the 10-year life of its battery, the transmitter will ping if or when it passes an array of receivers installed along the Savannah River and the Georgia coast.
Female Atlantic sturgeon spawn about every three to five years. Any data that one day reveals the Spirit Creek sturgeon returning to the Savannah in Augusta would bring this story to a successful close.
But for Gray, the rescue itself traced a similar arc. His first job in fisheries was in 2015, as a technician in the Fox Lab. “It was a little bit of a full-circle moment for me,” he said.
Bill Baab
Great story and I am so glad it turned out OK for the fish. Best regards, Bill Baab, Outdoor Editor retired, The Augusta Chronicle (1964-2000)
Georgia DNR, Wildlife Resources Division
Thank you, Bill. Great to hear from you.