The Ashland Fishery Resources Office, along with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Bay Mills Indian Community, have been gathering this information from the fishers to use in their study of the sturgeon. This is the fourth year that the Ashland FRO has been involved with this program.

Most of the fish the commercial fishers handle are immature, usually 18 ? 30?. Sturgeon of this size usually are not seen in the spawning runs in tributaries to Lake Superior, nor as juveniles in the tributaries. Data gathered in this life stage will hopefully help biologists better understand the needs and habitats of sturgeon.

In 2004 commercial fishers providing information on six lake sturgeon. The majority of these fish were caught in the Keweenaw Peninsula area of upper Michigan. Fisheries biologists hope to gain an insight into the movement of these fish and habitat being utilized in various lifestages.

Along with the commercial fishers, there are four tribal natural resource departments that are also cooperating with the Ashland FRO to gathering this biological data and tag sturgeon. The tribes collected data on 11 sturgeon for 2004. To date, 98 lake sturgeon have been handled and reported to the Ashland FRO by the commercial fishers and tribal natural resource agencies on Lake Superior. Hopefully the data gathered from this study, and others being conducted by natural resource agencies throughout Lake Superior, can help to restore this great fish to their historical numbers and home range.