Vanderhoof, B.C.- A milestone  day for the  recovery of the Nechako White Sturgeon.  The Nechako White Sturgeon Conservation Centre has officially opened in Vanderhoof.

(at right, model of a Nechako White Sturgeon created by P.G. Artist Nino Fabro, photo-250News archive)

Located  next to the  only known  sturgeon spawning site on the Nechako in Vanderhoof,  the  Centre  will  see 12,000 young sturgeon produced each year from wild Nechako sturgeon adults.

The Centre’s goal is to rebuild the Nechako Sturgeon population to self sustaining levels.    It is estimated that  in the mid 1900’s  there were about 5,000 white sturgeon in the Nechako River.  That number has declined to just 600 today.

The first wild Nechako brood fish were captured and spawned at the new facility in late May and today their progeny are tiny larvae swimming inside the new state of the art facility. These young fish will be raised until the spring of 2015 when they have grown to 150 to 200 g in size.  The larvae spawned at the centre in 2014 will not become mature adults for 30 to 40 years.  All fish released from the facility will be marked so they can be identified and tracked by biologists.

The facility  cost $5.3 million  to build, and was made possible  through contributions from the Provincial Government, First Nations, the District of Vanderhoof and  Rio Tinto Alcan.

The next phase of the Nechako White Sturgeon Conservation Centre will be the development of a Stewardship Centre to provide educational activities, as well as a tourist attraction for Vanderhoof.