Grant: Engage Grants Program

Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc. (ASCI) is a unique, rural-based New Brunswick company focused on thesustainable harvesting and farming of the Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, along with the processing of caviar,sturgeon meat and by-products. Founded in 2005, the company also sells fertilized eggs, larvae and juvenilesturgeon for restocking of extirpated populations internationally, for aquaculture all over the world and forresearch purposes in Canada and the United States. There is a very small commercial fishery for Atlanticsturgeon on the Saint John River (harvest quota of 350 adult/year, 175 females and 175 males). ASCIcollaborates with the four local fishers involved in this fishery, and most of the catch of mature sturgeon is nowbeing used for artificial spawning in company's hatchery and as product supply. However, little is known aboutthe population parameters of Atlantic sturgeon, including parameters central to their proper management, suchas growth rate. This brings considerable risk to the harvesting of even a small number of wild fish and leavesthe company and its $600 K business susceptible to a lack of sturgeon supply and therefore a curtailing of thecurrent expansion of their markets. Dr. Michael Stokesbury is a Canada Research Chair at Acadia with a strongresearch record in the conservation and management of marine resources. His projects include examining thepost-release mortality of Atlantic bluefin tuna, efficiency of fish passage through fishways and feeding,survival and behaviour of Atlantic sturgeon. He works extensively with fishers and fisher organizations. Dr.Stokesbury will work with ASCI and local fishers to collect and process biological samples during thecommercial sturgeon harvest. Historical and recent samples will be used to provide a full range of samples thatspan all of the life stages of the fish. This will allow for the first complete growth curve to be developed forthis sturgeon population. Based on this critical information, ASCI will refine their harvesting strategies toensure that sturgeon are harvested at the proper size and age to provide stock for aquaculture and production ofproducts including caviar, and to help ensure the long term sustainability of the Atlantic sturgeon supply.