<em>Abstract</em>.—At the extreme southern boundary of its range, the lake sturgeon <em>Acipenser fulvescens </em>was once an important biological component of the Coosa River system of Georgia–Alabama. During the 1970s, the population was extirpated by the combined effects of overfishing and degraded water quality. Over the past 20 years, water quality has improved, and in 2002, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources initiated a lake sturgeon reintroduction program with the goal of establishing a self-sustaining population within 20 years. From 2004 to 2007, we evaluated the initial phase of this reintroduction program by quantifying poststocking survival and seasonal habitat use of juvenile lake sturgeon in the Coosa River. We used gill nets and trammel nets to capture juveniles at several locations in both riverine and reservoir habitats. Fourteen individual juveniles were randomly selected for surgical implantation of radio tags to monitor their seasonal movements and habitat use. Over the 3 years of the study, we captured a total of 597 juvenile lake sturgeon measuring 231–790 mm total length. Using capture probabilities calculated from Program MARK (White and Burnham 1999), we estimated a total abundance of 789 (690–889, 95% confidence interval) juvenile lake sturgeon in 2006. Survival of each cohort from date stocked to summer 2006 varied from 1% to 14%, depending on year and size of fish stocked. Seasonal movements of juveniles varied; however, most fish occupied a relatively short reach in the lower river during summer months when water temperatures were more than 258C. At least 1% of fish stocked in each cohort have survived, and the population appears to be gradually increasing with each additional year of stocking. Further studies are needed to monitor annual recruitment and to evaluate reproductive success as first cohorts reach maturity.
St. Clair-Detroit River system: Phosphorus mass balance and implications for Lake Erie load reduction, monitoring, and climate change
