Sturgeon reappears

A young atlantic sturgeon was found in the Baltic Sea, for the first time in perhaps a century (left).

Hallelujah, what fun it would be to note a fantastic species like a sturgeon, which is amazing to look at and can get huge. Like the size of an elongated large motorcycle or small car (right).

But wait, it might just be a stray from a Polish captive breeding effort, so it may not be the miracle it sounds like. Oh well, either way, sturgeon in the Baltic is a good day for a fish lover. Or a good day for someone who likes the ocean. Or even a good day for someone who doesn't care, even though they won't know they're having a good day.

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Celebrating fish in the northwest

Don't let the dead sturgeon fool you, we revere our fish here in the northwest. In fact, some might say we regard them too highly. Ray Troll asks: Fish worship, is it wrong?

Regardless, here's a freeway overpass in The Dalles, Oregon, with a truly beautiful salmon and sturgeon sculpture doing double duty as a fence to make sure people don't drop bricks on passing cars.

I took this picture the same day I took the picture of the sturgeon in the previous post. Can we harness this sentiment and solve our problems? I sure hope so.

I guess you can tell that I'm back from vacation and ready to inflict more blogging on anyone daft enough to read this stuff.

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Dead river, dead fish

Hello Mr. Sturgeon, how are you today? (see photo at left) You're looking just about as fine and healthy as the Columbia River you call home.

We've dammed the Columbia, and perhaps damned this poor sturgeon and it's kin. Take a look at the sheer number of dams in the Columbia River basin (below right).

White sturgeon are not doing well in the Columbia River. One problem is toxic contamination that accumulates in the muck locked up behind the many dams. Sturgeon root around in the muck and eat muck-living critters and get the benefit of all that chemical buildup. Resulting in the kind of scene I saw on my vacation while trying to enjoy the river.

I paused a moment to take some pictures and mark the passing of this fine young 3 foot long sturgeon. Yeah, that's just a baby. A big one can be (are you sitting down?) 20 feet long, 1500 pounds, and well over 100 years old. I've seen pictures of huge sturgeon that were pulled from northwest rivers many years ago. Don't see many of those anymore.

Then it was back to windsurfing and remembering that it was not a work day. Dead river, dead fish, what do we expect?

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