Students Release Endangered Sturgeon into the Cumberland

Seven-year-old David Banks of Mt. Juliet helps carry a baby sturgeon to the water.

State wildlife officials say they’re getting closer to a day when anglers could reel in a huge lake sturgeon. They’re trying to restore a population of the giant fish, which hasn’t been found naturally in Tennessee since 1960.

This morning home school students from Mt. Juliet released 30 baby sturgeon – already three-feet long – into the Cumberland River.

Since 2000, 48,000 fish have been released into Tennessee rivers. But biologists doubt they’re self-sustaining at this point.

Anna George directs the research arm of the Tennessee Aquarium.

“Part of why this is a long term program is we don’t know if they’re reproducing yet because they’re not old enough to reproduce yet.”

Sturgeon can live to be 100 years old, so they don’t begin mating until they’re 20.

It’s illegal for fishermen to keep sturgeon, but wildlife officials say they do want to know whenever one is accidentally caught.