Biology and Conservation of the European SturgeonAcipenser sturioL. 1758: The Reunion of the European and Atlantic Sturgeons PDF
Preview Biology and Conservation of the European SturgeonAcipenser sturioL. 1758: The Reunion of the European and Atlantic Sturgeons
Biology and Conservation of the European Sturgeon Acipenser sturio L. 1758 . Patrick Williot Eric Rochard l l Nathalie Desse-Berset Frank Kirschbaum l l Jo¨rn Gessner Editors Biology and Conservation of the European Sturgeon Acipenser sturio L. 1758 The Reunion of the European and Atlantic Sturgeons Editors Dr.PatrickWilliot Dr.EricRochard SturgeonConsultant Cemagref RueduPasdeMadame4 EstuarineEcosystemsandDiadromous 33980Audenge FishResearchUnit France AvenuedeVerdun50 [email protected] 33612Cestascedex France Dr.NathalieDesse-Berset [email protected] Universite´deNice-SophiaAntipolis CNRS-CEPAM-UMR6130,SJA3 Prof.FrankKirschbaum AvenuedesDiablesBleus24 Humboldt-Universita¨tBerlin 06357Nicecedex4 Abt.BiologieundO¨kologieder France Fische [email protected] Philippstr.13 [email protected] 10115Berlin Haus16 Dr.Jo¨rnGessner Germany Leibniz-Institutfu¨r [email protected] Gewa¨ssero¨kologieund Binnenfischerei Mu¨ggelseedamm310 12587Berlin Germany [email protected] ISBN978-3-642-20610-8 e-ISBN978-3-642-20611-5 DOI10.1007/978-3-642-20611-5 SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011935343 # Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2011 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting, reproductiononmicrofilmorinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Duplicationofthispublication orpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheGermanCopyrightLawofSeptember9, 1965,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer.Violations areliabletoprosecutionundertheGermanCopyrightLaw. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnotimply, evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotective lawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Dedication to Dr. Etienne Magnin Dr. E´tienne Magnin (1922(cid:1)1990) was one of the few contemporary researchers to take an interest in European sturgeon before it became an endangered species. Hisdoctoralthesisandsubsequentworkonthebiologyofthespecies–and,more specifically, of the population of the Gironde basin – on its taxonomic position relativetoAtlanticsturgeonandonitsstatus,whichwasalreadyconsideredacause for concern in the 1950s, laid much of the scientific groundwork for a body of knowledgethatotherscontinuetobuildonandthatwill,wehope,somedaymake possiblethesurvivalofthismagnificentfish. Paradoxically, Dr. Magnin, though he came late to the field of biology, was a pioneer,andnotonlywithrespecttohisresearchinFranceonEuropeansturgeon. AftersettlinginCanada,wherehewasfirstaconsultant(1962),thenaprofessorin theDepartmentofBiologyattheUniversite´deMontre´al(1964(cid:1)1987),hewasalso a pioneer in the development of knowledge about the aquatic ecosystems of the St.LawrenceRiverandtheJamesBayregionduringtheearlystagesofconstruc- tion of the large-scale hydroelectric projects in this vast, little-known northern territory.Hisareasofinterestweremany.Bothanichthyologistandalimnologist, Dr. Magnin authored or co-authored, with the graduate students and researchers who worked in his laboratory and that of the Socie´te´ d’e´nergie de la Baie James where hewas scientific director for more than 7years,81 scientific papers: 48 on fish(including16onEuropeanandNorthAmericanAcipenseridae),17onbenthic organisms, six on zooplankton, five on phytoplankton and five on various other subjects(suchasamphibians).HisbookonthefreshwaterecologyoftheJamesBay region(1977)stillremainsamajorreferencework. Dr.Magninwasalsoanoutstandingteacher.Those,likeus,whohadtheopport- unityoftakinghiszoologyandcomparativeanatomycourseswereabletoappreci- atehisrigorousapproach,hisclarityofthought,hisattentiontodetail,hisrespect for students and his sense of humour. He was also a mentor, whose knowledge, commitment,enthusiasmandsupportenabledhimtotrainthreePhDstudentsand 28 master’s students in a span of 20 years. Many of these went on to their own researchcareersinacademeandpublicservice,contributing,inturn,toimproving v vi DedicationtoDr.EtienneMagnin our understanding and protection of freshwater ecosystems, preparing a new gen- eration of biologists and developing a profession that plays an increasingly integratedroleinthedecision-makingprocessesoftoday’ssociety. PierreDumont Ministe`redesRessourcesnaturellesetdelaFauneduQue´bec PeterHarper Universite´ deMontre´al Dedication to Dr. Juraj Holcˇik RNDr.JurajHolcˇ´ık,CSc.–eminentSlovakzoologistwasbornonOctober18,1934 in Trnava in Western Slovakia. He completed his B.Sc. (1958) and PhD (1966) studiesatCharlesUniversityinPrague. Before being appointed Director of the newly established Institute of Zoology and Ecosozology (in 1995 re-named Institute of Zoology), Slovak Academy of Sciences in 1990, Dr. Holcˇ´ık was research officer and after 1972 the Senior Research Officer of the Institute of Fishery Research and Hydrobiology in Brati- slava.HealsoworkedattheRegionalMuseumatTrnavaandtheSlovakNational MuseuminBratislavaastheCuratorofZoologyandCuratorofLowerVertebrates respectively. The scope of his scientific activity was very diverse, and included taxonomy, zoogeography, ecology, population dynamics, limnology, and ecosozology, as well as production, introduction, acclimatization and conservation of fish gene pool (genofond). However, ichthyology was the main focus of his work. He was an internationally renowned expert on Palearctic Petromyzontidae, Salmonidae, and Cyprinidae (especially the subfamilies Acheilognathinae and Percidae). He describedsixnew fishspecies,three subspeciesandtwonewhybridforms offish faunainSlovakia,Romania,Mongolia,theBalkansandIran.Ofthese,Gymnoce- phalus baloni (Holcˇ´ık and Hensel 1974) is considered to be one of the last new vertebratetaxatobedescribedonSlovakterritory.Hecontributedtothedevelop- mentofamethodologyforstudyingecologicalfishproductioninopenwaters.He contributed significantly to the fact that the Slovak–Hungarian section of the Danube river is one of the best studied sections not only of the Danube but also oflargeriversoverall.Healsocontributedtoourunderstandingoftheimportance of floodplains and knowledge of the causal relationships between the density, ecologicalproductionandactivityoffishpopulationsononehand,andmainabiotic environmental factors on the other hand. Concerning the population dynamics of fishinman-madewaterreservoirs,heamendedprinciplesofstepwiseevolutionof ichthyofauna. He was an uncompromising advocate of the conservation of the vii viii DedicationtoDr.JurajHolcˇik Danube inland delta below Bratislava which he supported even as a Member of ParliamentoftheCzecho–SlovakFederativeRepublic. During his career he published, either alone or with co-authors, 170 original articles, over 200 popular science articles, and 25 books or book chapters. Some ofthemwerepublishedinseverallanguagesandmultipleeditions.Forexample,the book Holcˇ´ık J, Mihlik J and Maly´ J: Freshwater Fishes was published in four Englisheditionsaswellasinsevenadditionaleditionsinfivedifferentlanguages. Dr. Holcˇ´ık is coauthor of an ongoing book series entitled The Freshwater Fishes ofEurope,forwhichhecreatedthestructureofindividualbookchaptersandwas the editor of the first part of the series (Vol. 1/I: Petromyzontes, 1986, Vol. 1/II: GeneralintroductiontoFishes,Acipenseriformes,1989,AULAVerlagWiesbaden) for which he also authored several chapters. It is noteworthy that in 1998 he published the first and still the only textbook of ichthyology in the former Czechoslovakia (Ichtyolo´gia, Vydavateˇlstvo Pr´ıroda, Bratislava). This significant scientificoutputisademonstrationofhiscreativity,extraordinaryindustriousness, anddetermination. In the 1960s J. Holcˇ´ık led a Czechoslovak limnological expeditionto Cuba. In addition,heworkedasavisitingprofessorattheUniversityofWaterloo(Canada, 1986–1987; 1992), and as a technical advisor for FAO in Iran (1989–1991) and Ghana(1995–1996).Healsosupervisedandgraduatedseveralpromisingscientists. Dr. Holcˇ´ık’s publications and his activity in international ichthyological orga- nizations (which was negatively influenced by political discrimination from the 1950s to the 1980s) had a significant impact on his scientific reputation. He was frequentlyaskedtochaircongresses andsymposia,becameamemberofeditorial boards of five international scientific journals (Biologia, Folia Zoologica, Bios, EnvironmentalBiologyofFishes,andVoprosyichtiologii),andwasanactiveboard memberinmany,primarilyichthyologicalorganizations.Forhislifetimeachieve- ments he was awarded the World Wide Fund for Nature Award for Conservation Meritin1996andtheG.J.MendelhonourmedaloftheCzechAcademyofSciences in1998. HepassedawayonMay16,2010. KristinaHolcˇik Preface General Introduction, Context, Origin and Setting Up of the Project The European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio L. 1758, used to be one of the most widespreadsturgeonspecies(Magnin1959).However,likemostEurasiansturgeon species, its status has now become critical (Williot et al. 2002), it has been extir- pated from the great majority of its natural biotopes, and survives only in the French Atlantic coast fac¸ade, the Garonne basin, with a population on the verge of extinction (Rochard et al. 1990). The species was exploited more or less intensively for decades and even centuries, as it was in most European countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea (Italy, France, and Spain), the Eastern Atlantic Ocean (Spain, France), the North Sea (the Netherlands and Germany), and the BalticSea(Classen1944;Holcˇik1989). ThespeciescanthereforebelookeduponasanemblematicEuropeanspecies. Compared with terrestrial animals or plants, fish combine several handicaps: theyarenotvisible,theymove,sometimesfarawayfromtheadministrativelimits of human societies. Fisheries are under-managed, as can be seen from changes in fish population status, and fish conservation is almost ignored. The sturgeon is no exception. Moreover, the European sturgeon is further handicapped. It is an anadromousspecieswhichcolonisesalternatelyagreatvarietyofbiotopesinfresh, brackish, and marine waters which do not tick the administrative boxes. Other biologicalcharacteristicssuchaslongevity,latepuberty,andnon-yearlyoogenesis makethemevenmoresusceptibletoexploitationinspiteoftheirapparentrobust- ness(Boreman1997;Jageretal.2008). MuchhasbeendoneinFranceinthelastfewdecadesinfavourofthepreservation– conservation–restoration of the species, especially by research bodies. However, despitegreateffortsandprotection,thestatusofthespecieshasdeteriorated. TheconservationprogrammeoftheEuropeansturgeoninFrancewasbegunin theearly1970s.In2007forthefirsttime,abreakthroughwasachievedwiththefirst ix x Preface reproductionofculturedbroodfish(Williotetal.2009)whichmadeitpossiblefor the restoration programme to start again. This was the opportunity to draw up an extensiveassessmentofthelong-termprogramme,toupdateavailableknowledge, describethecontext,andmakeknownsomelong-termconcerns. TheEuropeansturgeonrestoration–conservationprogrammehasbeenacompli- catedprogramme,fullofpitfalls.Werealisedthat,amongotherthings,besidesits unusualscientificandtechnicalaspects,conservationdoesnotonlyhavescientific relevance.Indeed,social,economic,political,financial,andadministrativeaspects areanintegralpartofanypreservation–conservationprogramme. Inthefieldofscience,conservationissuesarefacingmanydifficulties.Research into biodiversity is favoured but not protection stricto sensu, and conservation actions are not considered with much enthusiasm in France. Thus, grants from this source are for the most part not accessible for concrete actions. In addition, in the absence of training courses in Conservation Biology, most people working in the field are undereducated, at least when they begin their careers. Thus, it is necessary to take time to explain, to discuss, to exchange and finally to get the consensus of all those involved, even though a specific decision might be not consideredastheoptimalonefromscientificandtechnicalpointsofview.Consen- sus is a key issue for going further. Many biological sciences are potentially concerned by fish management and conservation, sometimes at both fundamental andappliedlevels.Unfortunately,itisoftendifficulttomobilisespecialists.Oneof thegreatchallengesofconservationbiologyisthatthesituationofcertainspeciesis so critical that waiting for supposedly needed data would inexorably lead to the extinction of a species. The European sturgeon conservation programme was a good example of the difficulties that have been faced. Due to the high depletion statusofthespecies,thedecisionwastakenbyafewpeopleinaresearchinstituteto acquire experience and set up methods using another sturgeon species as a biological model, the Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii Brandt 1869. Not only did the species play its role of model species almost to perfection, but also the furthereconomicdevelopmentachievedbyfarmingthespeciesenabledtheleading Frenchinstitutetoobtainanewresearchfacility.Andthisprovedtobeakeypoint for building the ex situ European sturgeon brood stock. Another fruitful conse- quence was that conservation and farming sturgeon activities enabled us to hold ACIPENSER,thefirstInternationalSymposiumonsturgeon(ISS1)inBordeauxin 1989(Williot(ed)1991). TheevaluationoftheprimaryprojectsubmittedtoSpringerwasrapid,positive and accompanied by two requests. The first was to include the restoration plan of the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) in the US, and the second to update thedataregardingthestatusoftheEuropeansturgeonintheRiverRioniinGeorgia. NorecentpaperhasbeenpublishedonthestatusofthespeciesinGeorgiasincethe synthesisbyNinua(1976). At the time, it had been known for some years that the Atlantic sturgeon (A. oxyrinchus) inhabited the Baltic Sea (Ludwig et al. 2002; Tiedemann et al. 2007).Consequently,restorationactionsforthespecieshavestartedinbothPoland andGermany.Atalmostthesametimeasourbookprojectgotunderway,aFrench
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