Sturgeon population in Columbia River continues to declineSubscriber Exclusive

Once again, there will be no sturgeon retention season in the lower Columbia River this year. It’s the fourth year in a row that Washington and Oregon have needed to make that decision, and according to the latest population status report, anglers are unlikely to see retention allowed anytime in the near future. The states are also looking at opening the Bonneville and The Dalles pools to sturgeon retention in late February, river conditions allowing. The states recently released the 2026 Joint Staff Report Concerning Stock Status and Fisheries for White Sturgeon. It is not encouraging reading as the report highlights the ongoing and serious problem of the recruitment of young sturgeon into the population. The numbers of juvenile sturgeon in the lower Columbia have reached “critical” concern, according to the report. The population continues to age, with oversized sturgeon, the spawning age component of the population, continuing to comprise a larger percentage of the population. The fact is that sturgeon spawning success in the lower Columbia has tanked to the point that not enough young sturgeon are surviving to maintain the population. The problem has reached the point of “severe recruitment concern,” according to the report. The report states that “juvenile sturgeon abundance reached its lowest level on record in 2025, representing less than 23% of the population and remaining well below conservation thresholds, indicating severe recruitment concern.” Legal-size fish declined to about 90,000, compared with over 200,000 legal sized sturgeon in the 90s. And, this year keeper-sized fish are skewing to the higher length of the range, indicating that fewer sturgeon are surviving to keeper size. Lower Columbia River retention sizes vary by location, but most are within a 38-to-54-inch slot length limit. Sea lion predation, especially by the larger Stellar sea lions, has been pointed to as the main problem, but not the only one. In the last 15 years sea lions have begun targeting the larger, spawning sized sturgeon below Bonneville Dam, which has the best spawning habitat in the lower river. The sturgeon began abandoning the Bonneville location after a few years of this predation, and eventually began spawning below the Willamette Falls, where the habitat is not as good. While the states were eventually allowed to lethally remove the most aggressive pinnipeds, the predation continues. Focus on sea lions Fishing Guide Bob Rees of Bob Rees’ Oregon Fishing Guide Service has followed the management of the Columbia River white sturgeon for decades, and has sat on several sturgeon advisory committees. He has watched as the declines continued, and noted how it has negatively affected his business. “I haven’t fished it for a number of years, of course they haven’t had any retention in the last three years,” Rees said. “When they did people were falling all over each other trying to book those seats. I went from booking 30 to 60 keeper days a year to nothing.” He sees a direct correlation between predation and the decline, and that the predation problem has been apparent for a long time. “The departments should have seen this coming,” he adds. He said that the effort to stop sea lion predation by lethally removing the most problem animals at Bonneville and the Willamette Falls — the only two places’ managers are allowed by law to trap and euthanize the pinnipeds — have done about as much as they can to stop the predation. That process involves a number of steps outlined in the take permit, and the animals must be trapped and hauled off to be euthanized. It is an expensive and time-consuming process. “We have got all the easy ones, the sea lions that will haul out into the trap,” Rees said. “In order to fulfill how many pinnipeds should be pulled from the population we need other means of removal.” With predation down near the dam and falls, there is little more managers can do. Anecdotal evidence points to heavy predation in much of the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers. However, any lethal removals down lower can run up against public safety. Using rifles or other means to kill the animals would be too problematic. Spawning issues Laura Heironimus, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s white sturgeon lead, said the department has taken steps to help protect the spawning sturgeon. “Right now, we have a spawning sanctuary in effect from May 1 to August 31,” she said. “No sturgeon fishing at all is allowed. That is when sturgeon are staging, or spawning, or after spawning when they need that recovery time.” Most of the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers are open for catch and release fishing. Some anglers have suggested that the catch and release fishery be ended. Heironimus does not believe that is necessary yet. “We do have some mortalities documented every year in the river,” she said, “But very few show signs of hooking. For the most part these fish are pretty hardy.” She allowed there may come a time when the river could be closed to catch and release, possibly during warm water events, or during the spawn. Sturgeon do move in and out of salt water as they look for food sources. The fish will leave the Columbia and move up and down the coast, but whether new fish stray into the Columbia from other systems is merely speculation. There are three major sturgeon systems on the West Coast: the Columbia, the Fraser River in British Columbia and the Sacramento River in California. Genetic testing seems to indicate that these populations are specific to their home water, which may point to the fish usually returning to spawn in their natal system. This may indicate there is little interaction between the different rivers’ spawning adults. It also means there is little hope that fish from other systems can help recover Columbia River sturgeon. There are some hatchery supplementation projects in the upper Columbia, but using hatchery sturgeon to boost the population, as has been suggested, comes with many challenges. The fish do not spawn until they reach 20 to 30 years of age. That means managers would have to raise broodstock for long periods, or catch brood fish out of the wild. Both are not very cost-efficient. “Sturgeon have very complicated genetics and they also take a long time to raise in a hatchery setting,” Heironimus said. “In light of the funding cuts, we do not have the resources to do that. It’s something we could fall back on in the future if we have the funding to do that.” Anglers are beginning to get impatient with the population decline and lack of progress managing the popular species. Heironimus has heard many anglers complain that there seems to be plenty of sturgeon out there. “There are a lot of people out there after this resource, and there are not enough fish to go around,” she said. Sturgeon have been around for over two million years. They have survived ice ages, hydro-power dams, over-harvesting and human development. They are a tough species. But they may need more of a helping hand if they are to survive in the lower Columbia River. It would be a disaster to lose these “dinosaur” fish. Managers and anglers alike hope to avoid that outcome.

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