Save the sturgeon, UK’s Critically Endangered 'dinosaur fish'

The effects of weirs and dams, pollution, exploitation and persecution have led to the virtual extinction of the sturgeon. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it — considers sturgeon to be the most critically endangered group of species on the planet. 

 In 2020, the UK Sturgeon Alliance was formed between Blue Marine, the Zoological Society of London, the Institute of Fisheries Management, the Severn Rivers Trust, Nature at Work, and more recently the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. The Alliance has recorded all native sturgeon captures throughout history, is recording present day sightings, and hopes to one day see this incredible species thrive in UK waters. We are partnering to protect and restore their essential habitats, minimise accidental bycatch from fishing, close evidence gaps, and raise awareness of this great British fish and increase pride in it, while exploring restoration under the IUCN Reintroduction guidelines. 

A new website and increased social media widened our online presence. Nationally we reached millions through press releases; locally we worked with more than 540 volunteers. A new film about our work to protect some of Britain’s rarest seabirds was also released.   

The extraordinary sturgeon is an animal that has remained almost unchanged for the past 200 million years. Two species of these ‘dinosaur fish’ are native to the UK, the European sturgeon and the Atlantic sturgeon. They were once a common sight in the nation’s river and coastal ecosystems, and its largest freshwater species, reaching over five metres in length. The fish can live for more than one hundred years. To reverse the decline of these native species, Blue Marine is working as part of the UK Sturgeon Alliance to restore populations as a flagship for healthy marine, estuarine and freshwater systems. We are also working to increase knowledge and awareness of non-native, invasive species of sturgeon that are present in the UK and the threats they pose to native sturgeon through a series of ID guidelines and handbooks.