Michigan officials are releasing 100 sturgeon that are the product of the first successful sturgeon hatching and rearing program by state, federal, tribal, and local partners.  The sturgeon will all have embedded tags identifying them as Kalamazoo River fish.  In addition, thirty will have embedded transmitters allowing state biologists to track them.

Young sturgeon are fed and reared in a facility where they swim in tanks filled with Kalamazoo River water and learn to imprint on that water so they return to the home river to spawn. The new releases are expected to migrate down to Kalamazoo Lake and spend most of the fall and winter there feeding before moving out into Lake Michigan and migrating around for the next 12 to 15 years before returning to the Kalamazoo River to spawn.