River otters have been eating juvenile sturgeon released from a Vanderhoof hatchery. By visiting dozens of otter latrine sites along the Nechako River, UNBC graduate student Cale Babey has begun to quantify the extent of the predation.
Four years ago, scientists with the Nechako White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative began to suspect that river otters were eating some of the juvenile sturgeon released into the river for conservation purposes from a Vanderhoof hatchery. A new study led by a UNBC graduate student is beginning to quantify the extent of the predation.
Master of Science student Cale Babey spent the past two years tracking evidence of otter predation and presented his findings this week at the North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society virtual conference.
Sturgeon released from the Nechako White Sturgeon Conservation Centre in Vanderhoof are all implanted with a passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag, a small device that works like a barcode and uniquely identifies each fish.
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Image via Nikolaus Gantner.