51813_Sturgeon biodioversity an.PDF

near future this type of uncontrolled fishery will

decimate kaluga and Amur sturgeon populations in

the estuary and the lower Amur. Contamination of

the Amur River and its tributaries with heavy met-

als, oil products, phenols, organic substances, and

other pollutants is a potential but unknown threat.

Because they spawn on the river bed, the low wa-

ter level in the Amur River during some years does

not apparently affect the breeding of sturgeons.

our original draft. The English text was substantial-

ly revised and improved by Vadim Birstein. Williaim

E. Bemis drew the map.

References cited

Amaoka, K & K. Nakaya. 1975. First record of the kaluga stur-

geon.Huso dauricus, from Japan. Japan. J. Ichthyol. 22: 164–

166.

of the green sturgeon.Acipenser medirostris(Chondrostei,

Acipenseridae), from the Tumnin (Datta) River and some as-

pectsoftheecologyandzoogeographyofAcipenseridae.Zo-

ologicheskii Zhurnal 69: 81–91 (in Russian, English translation

J. Ichthyol. 30: 11–21).

fish,CoregonusussuriensisBerg, and kaluga, Husodauricus

(Georgi), in the Sakhalin island waters. Voprosy Ikhtiologii 19:

1125– I128 (in Russian).

Honma, Y. & H ltano. 1994. A record of a great Siberian stur-

geon.Huso dauricusoff Niigata, Sea of Japan (Osteichthyes:

Acipenseridae). Japan.J.Ichthyol. 41: 317–321.

Khodorevskaya, R.P., G.F. Dovgopol, O.L.Zhuraleva& A.D.

Vlasenko. 1997. Present status of commercial stocks of stur-

geonsin the Caspian Sea basin. Env. Biol. Fish. (this volume).

Kostarev, V.L. & B.V. Tyurnin. 1970. Kaluga in the waters of the

north-western part of the Sea of Okhotsk. Izvestiya Tikhook-

eanskogo Nauchno-Issledovatelskogo lnstituta Rybnogo

Khozyaislva i Okeanografii 74: 346–247 (in Russian).

Krykhtin, M.L. 1972. Changes in the composition and abundance

of populations of the kaluga,Huso dauricus(Georgi), and

sturgeon.Acipenser schrenckiBrandt, during the period of

fishery closure in the Amur River Basin. Voprosy Ikhtiologii

12: 2–12 (in Russian).

Krykhtin, M.L. 1975. Growth of kaluga,Huso dauricus(Georgi).

in the Amur River estuary. Izvestiya Tikhookeanskogo

Nauchno-Issledovatelskogo Insituta Rybnogo Khoziaistva i

Okenograplii 98: 129–136 (in Russian).

Krykhtin, M.L. 1979. The modern state and perspectives of de-

velopment of the sturgeon fishery in the Amur River Basin.

pp. 68–74. In:Biological Foundations of Development of the

Sturgeon Fishery in the Water Bodies of the USSR, Nauka

Press. Moscow (in Russian).

Krykhtin, M.L. 1984a. On the causes of kaluga death in the Amur

River estuary. pp. 163–164. In:Sturgeon Fishery in the Water

Bodies of the USSR, Astrakhan (in Russian).

Kyrkhtin,M.L. 1948b. Comparative estimate of the rate of repro-

duction, natural loss, and sire of populations of the Amur Riv-

er fresh water fishes. Voprosy Ikhtiologii 24: 204–211 (in Rus-

sian).

Krykhtin, M.L. 1985. Ecological-physiological variability in the

kaluga population of the Amur River estuary. pp. 105–106.In:

Ecological Physiology and Biochemistry of Fishes. Vilnus (in

Most young and adult fish also feed in the same area Artyukhin, E.N. & A.E. Andronov. 1990. A morphological study

of the river. Juveniles migrating for food to the

small tributaries of the Amur River will not over-

winter in these areas and, therefore, are not affected

by the low water levels during autumn-winter peri-

geonjuveniles that sometimes was observed in the

Amur River estuary (due to cold, saline water) af-

fected only the estuary populations. Predation on

kaluga and Amur sturgeoneggsand juveniles in the

decades but was, on the contrary, markedly re-

duced.

Kaluga and Amur sturgeon populations in the

Amur River seem to be in better shape than do be-

ods.Themass death of the kaluga and Amur stur Gritsenko, O.F. & G.M. Kostyunin. 1979. The Amur Riverwhite

Amur River did not increase within the last two

luga and sturgeon populations in the European part

of Russia (Khodorevskaya et al. 1997 this volume).

Taking into consideration the existing and expected

status of the kaluga and Amur sturgeon popula-

tions, their very low rate of breeding and low effi-

ciency of natural reproduction in the Amur River

basin, we consider it neccessary to build hatcheries

for artificial breeding and restocking of these spe-

cies^1.

Acknowledgements

We thank Vadim Birstein and John Waldman for

the invitation to participate in the International

Conference on Sturgeon Biodiversity and Conser-

vation. Two anonymous reviewers commmented on

(^1) In 1995. sturgeon poaching from the Russian and Chinese
banks of the Amur River and its tributary, the Ussuri River, in-
tensified.Increasingly, poaching in the Russian part of the lower
Amur is carried out by well-organized and well-equipped groups
(editors’ note, February 1996). Russian).