Fishing Regions
Sturgeon: A Migratory Fish with Diverse Origins
Almost all Acipenser species are migratory fish. Like salmon, sturgeon travel upstream into freshwater rivers during spawning season.
Depending on the species, sturgeon may be:
Anadromous: living in the sea but reproducing in freshwater (like salmon),
Potamodromous: living and reproducing exclusively in freshwater (like trout).
In all cases, reproduction takes place in freshwater. Once fertilised, the eggs deposited on the riverbed begin their development, and the young sturgeon continue growing in these same waters.
Global Distribution of Sturgeon Species
Before the near disappearance of wild populations, more than 26 species of sturgeon were found across the Northern Hemisphere. They inhabited rivers and coastal waters, with particularly high concentrations in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The most commonly fished species were:
Beluga
Osciètre
Sevruga
Other species included:
Acipenser ruthenus (the sterlet), prized for the delicacy of its flesh,
Acipenser schypa (the ship sturgeon), found in the Aral Sea and Central Asia.
Sturgeon thrive in temperate waters and natural environments. They are not found below the Tropic of Cancer.
Rivers & Estuaries
Rivers rich in sturgeon, such as the Volga and the Ural, which flow into the Caspian Sea, formed vast flat estuaries that provided ideal conditions for spawning. Sturgeon species were also found in the rivers of Siberia and in Lakes Aral and Baikal, including Acipenser baerii (the Siberian sturgeon), now widely used in aquaculture.
Fishing also took place in the great rivers of eastern Russia — the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Amur — although in smaller quantities. Significant catches were also made in the Sea of Azov, particularly near the mouth of the Danube.
European & American Sturgeon
Along the coasts of Western Europe — such as the Gironde estuary — the west coast of the United States, and certain North American lakes, closely related sturgeon species were also fished, including:
Acipenser sturio (the European or Atlantic sturgeon),
Acipenser transmontanus (the white sturgeon).
In China, sturgeon populations were found in the upper Yangtze River valley and in the rivers of Manchuria. Acipenser schrenckii, which was fished there, produced a caviar similar to Osciètre, though with larger grains. The region was also home to Huso dauricus, the cousin of Huso huso, often referred to as the “river beluga.”
A Threatened Species
Throughout the 20th century, most caviar came from sturgeon living in the Caspian Sea. However, overfishing — intensified by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 — led to a dramatic decline in wild populations. In 1998, sturgeon became a protected species under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), an agreement linked to the United Nations.
Did you know? Until the end of the 19th century, sturgeon were abundant in the rivers flowing into the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the North Sea. The port of Hamburg, for example, was once teeming with them. But the development of river transport, dredging, dams, and intensive fishing gradually devastated the species.