Anadromous Sturgeons: Habitats, Threats, and Management

Preface

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569919.fmatter

The symposium “Anadromous Sturgeons” was held at Quebec City, August 11–13, 2003, under the auspices of the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS). The 2003 AFS theme Worldwide decline of wild fish populations echoed strongly with the sturgeons family whose species members are nearly all threatened (IUCN 2006). Because of their status, sturgeons have been the focus of a broad scientific interest that led to the publication of several proceedings (Binkowski and Doroshov 1985; Williot 1991; Gershanovich and Smith 1995; Birstein et al. 1997; Rosenthal et al. 1999; Elvira et al. 2000; Rosenthal et al. 2002; Van Winkle et al. 2002; Gessner and Ritterhoff 2004). This symposium dealt with a specific subset of sturgeon populations, the anadromous and similarly adapted species of the ocean coastlines. Four themes were explored: status and trends, anthropogenic impacts, essential habitats in estuaries, and essential habitats in fresh/marine waters. Each theme included eight presentations and a 40-minute discussion panel. Themes were intended to gather convergent new scientific information and methodologies, and to support advice for protecting and restoring habitat and populations of anadromous sturgeons.