JRA Constructs Experimental Spawning Reef to Benefit Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon

During the week of July 22nd, Coastal Designs carefully placed 2,700 tons of rock in the  James River just downstream from the Varina-Enon Bridge to form a 70-foot by 300-foot by 2-foot high mound on the river bottom. This artificial reef will provide the type of hard, rocky surface that Atlantic sturgeon and other native fish require to lay their eggs. It also provides a safe place for young hatchlings to escape predators.

Centuries of agriculture and development along the length of the river have changed the river bed, adding silt that has obliterated much of the river’s once rocky bottom, degrading the sturgeon’s spawning habitat. It is hoped that by providing an ideal spawning habitat, such as the rocky reef, scientists will have a better chance to study the river giant and help them rebuild their local population. 

Representatives from Luck Stone, who donated the rock, The Nature Conservancy/ NOAA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who helped fund the project, members of the press and JRA staff members watched as a skilled equipment operator scooped up shovels of rock from a barge and carefully placed them on the river bed in a strategic egg-crate design of hills and valleys.  The site for the reef was chosen because it had the optimum water flow and amount of dissolved oxygen in the water for sturgeon. This represents the third experimental spawning reef built in the James since 2009.

The timing of the construction is ideal, as Atlantic sturgeon have recently been seen in the lower James in advance of the autumn spawning season. No sturgeon sightings have yet been reported in the reef area of the river, which may be due to the summer’s elevated rainfall and water temperature. Scientists from VCU and Virginia Department of Games and Inland Fisheries are currently using passive receivers stationed throughout the lower James River to track approximately 125 Atlantic sturgeon that were tagged in the James.

If there’s a “poster child” for the cause of a healthy James River, it has to be the Atlantic sturgeon. After being considered at risk for many years, in 2012 they were placed on the federal endangered species list. While some people call this armor plated fish a living fossil, he’s actually an extraordinary adapter. The dinosaurs with which he swam are gone. In the James River his population was decimated by overfishing and his habitat was degraded by pollution. Yet, every spring and fall, the James River’s Atlantic sturgeon return to spawn. And the fish that was once through to be extirpated from the James may slowly be growing in number, thanks to the hard work of a lot of dedicated people…and a lot of rocks!

A video of Lower James Riverkeeper, Jamie Brunkow speaking about the Sturgeon reef.