The European and Atlantic Sea Sturgeon Project

UK NATIVE STURGEON RESTORATION PROJECT 

A ‘dinosaur fish’, the sturgeon has existed for 200 million years, and our two native species were once widespread in British rivers and coastal waters. Today, the European sturgeon is critically endangered species and the Atlantic sturgeon is Near Threatened Blue Marine is working to restore the UK populations

The extraordinary sturgeon is an animal that has remained almost unchanged for the past 200 million years. Two species of these ‘dinosaur fish’ are present the UK, the European sturgeon and the Atlantic sturgeon. They were once a common sight in the nation’s river and coastal ecosystems, and our largest freshwater species reaching over five metres in length which can live for over one hundred years.

However, weirs and dams, pollution, exploitation and persecution have almost led to their extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it — considers sturgeon to be the most critically endangered group of species on the planet.

To reverse the decline of the UK’s native sturgeon species, Blue Marine is working as part of the UK Sturgeon Alliance to restore populations of both native species of sturgeon as a flagship for healthy marine, estuarine and freshwater systems. We are working to protect and restore their essential habitats, minimise accidental bycatch from fishing, close evidence gaps, and raise awareness of this great British fish and increase pride in it, while exploring restoration under theIUCN Reintroduction guidelines.

In 2020, the UK Sturgeon Alliance was formed between Blue Marine, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM), the Severn Rivers Trust, Nature at Work, and more recently the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) The Alliance has recorded all native sturgeon captures throughout history and recording present day sightings, and hopes to one day see this incredible species thrive to UK waters. 

You can help us by recording any sightings of sturgeon at www.savethesturgeon.com

To read the UK Sturgeon Alliance Action Plan, please click here.