Long-Term Patterns in Growth of White Sturgeon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Basin, California

Michael C. Quist^1*Shannon E Blackburn²Marta E Ulaski²Zachary J Jackson³

• ¹Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, United States Geological Survey (USGS), United States Department of the Interior, Moscow, United States
• ²College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, United States
• ³U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, Pine Top, United States

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River system (SSJ) of California includes both riverine, delta, and estuarine habitats and is among the most modified aquatic ecosystems in the United States. Water development projects in the system are associated with declines of many native species, including White Sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus. We used White Sturgeon pectoral fin rays collected from 1983-2016 throughout the SSJ to assess long-term changes in growth and associations with thermal and hydrological conditions (i.e., temperature, discharge, salinity). Age and growth were estimated from 1,897 White Sturgeon varying in fork length from 25 to 210 cm and from age 0 to 33. Age structure varied through time with the oldest fish generally sampled during the mid-1980s. Growth of White Sturgeon in 1951-1970 was slower than growth of fish in 1971-1990 and 1991-2012. Growth of White Sturgeon during 1991-2012 was approximately 10% higher than during other time periods.Little variation in growth was explained by environmental covariates, suggesting that annual growth was likely influenced by factors not measured in our study. Alternatively, the population structure and movement behavior of White Sturgeon in the SSJ may be such that the scale (i.e., spatial or temporal) of available habitat covariates was mismatched to the scale at which growth of White Sturgeon responds. Increased growth in recent times may be partly due to density-dependent processes in association with substantial declines in White Sturgeon population abundance over the last several decades. This research provides important information on long-term patterns in growth that contributes to the conservation and management of White Sturgeon in the SSJ and beyond.