Atlantic sturgeon are making a comeback in the James River thanks to these conservationists

Audrey Polverari, Contributing Writer

Spawning season for the endangered Atlantic sturgeon is underway in the James River, marking a brief but critical window of research and advocacy for the prehistoric fish. 

Once thought to be gone from Virginia’s rivers, the Atlantic sturgeon has made a fragile comeback after decades of work by VCU’s Rice Rivers Center, the James River Association, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and tribal nations. 

The federally endangered species, which can reach 14 feet in length and weigh hundreds of pounds, has been swimming upriver for months to spawn. Breaching activity, when the fish launch themselves from the water, peaks in mid-September.

Tom Dunlap, the James River Association’s riverkeeper, said there were recent reports of up to six breaches an hour near the Presquile National Wildlife Refuge in Chesterfield County.  

The sturgeon’s resurgence also signifies the James River’s broader environmental recovery, according to Dunlap.

“The decades of work to improve water quality and the existing habitat for these species has laid the foundation for the return that’s happened,” Dunlap said.  

The James River Association aims to mobilize the community to protect and take pride in their waters by helping streamside property owners adopt river-friendly practices, such as planting riparian buffers — vegetation that reduces sediment and pollutants while preserving underwater grass habitats vital to sturgeon. 

“Every time we’re improving the habitat and making a more resilient edge for our river system, we’re anticipating improved circumstances for all these aquatic organisms,” Dunlap said. 

Lack of information was among the largest obstacles Rice Rivers Center researchers faced in 2007, when the Atlantic sturgeon recovery mission emerged. In order to create a recovery plan, they needed good data — something difficult to obtain on a species teetering on extinction.

“It was a black box,” said Greg Garman, an associate professor of biology at VCU who is involved in the project. “We had no idea when they showed up, where they went to spawn, just no information.”

With new sonar tracking tools, researchers discovered sturgeon do not only spawn in the spring, but in late summer and fall. 

“That kind of blew the doors off things,” Garman said.

The discovery allowed researchers to build predictive models of spawning runs and work with industries along the river to adjust water intake during critical spawning periods, reducing risks to eggs and larvae.

Researchers collected the first egg of the season in September — a sure sign that spawning is happening. But Garman cautioned that survival rates remain troubling.

“From what we can see, all the environmental conditions are lining up. From that perspective, there should be a good spawning event,” Garman said. “But at least recently, it hasn’t been the spawning. It’s the early juvenile stage. Something seems to go wrong.” 

Since 2018’s strong class of juveniles, young have been few and far between, according to Garman. The low recruitment numbers are troubling for recovery and there is no known explanation. 

One loose theory is that high freshwater flows in 2018 pushed invasive blue catfish downstream, briefly easing predation pressure on young sturgeon. Researchers agree that blue catfish remain a major obstacle to recovery across Virginia rivers.

Despite the uncertainty, the sturgeon’s resurgence carries deep meaning for Carrie Fox, a fisheries technician with the Upper Mattaponi Tribe and citizen of the Pamunkey Tribe. She views the species’ rebound as not only a conservation milestone, but a historical and cultural connection to the peoples that saw sturgeon as sustenance, a marker of season and strength.

“I see them as a beacon of hope,” Fox said. “For so long, people thought they were basically extinct. Come to find out, that’s not true at all. They’re actually doing a lot better than we would have thought.” 

At 23-years-old, Fox is among the newest generation of sturgeon scientists. Her interest began when the Pamunkey Tribe received the NOAA Species Recovery Grant in 2018. Fox connected with the Upper Mattaponi Tribe’s former environmental director through a National Park Service internship, and now works under that same grant.

Working closely with Matt Balazik, the leading sturgeon researcher at Rice Rivers Center, Fox primarily focuses on the Mattaponi River’s juvenile population. They aim to gather data on one of the most pressing questions in sturgeon recovery — why juvenile survival rates remain so low. 

“There could be multiple different factors that are plaguing them,” Fox said. “Maybe they’re hatched or maybe they’re larvae. Maybe they make it to one year, but then they don’t make it to two years. We’re trying to find where that breakdown of age is, and why they might not be growing up.”

Fox’s role highlights the growing collaboration between tribes, universities and state and federal agencies on conservation projects, better ensuring that Indigenous voices and knowledge are a part of recovery efforts.

“[The organizations] that have access to these resources are now more willing to not only share these resources, but bring us into the fold,” Fox said. “Connecting these groups of people is giving us the opportunity to reconnect. It’s very evident how we lived our lives previously and how we live now — that who we are as people is to care for these lands, these waters and everything that calls them home.” 

If onlookers want to catch a glimpse of history firsthand, this fall’s spawning run is prime time.