News splash: UNE research team’s sturgeon catch in Saco River receives national media coverage

The capture of a “monster” fish, among an incredible catch of Atlantic sturgeon by a UNE research team, led by James Sulikowski, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Marine Sciences, made national news on June 6-7, 2013, as several newspapers, television stations, and other media outlets reported coverage of the event.  The catch carries great significance to marine scientists, as it points to a possible resurgence of the prehistoric fish in the Saco River.

TV stations as far away as Kansas, Florida and Alabama covered the story of Sulikowski and his team of five students, who caught the 7-foot, one-inch, 130 pound sturgeon, along with 37 other Atlantic sturgeon, including two of the short-nosed variety, an endangered species, on June 5th.

The sturgeon haul was also reported in the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald, as well as on MPBN, NECN, WMTW 8, and WCSH 6.

Sturgeon in the Saco River were thought to have died out by the 1950s due to pollution and aggressive fishing.  Sulikowski  explained:  “Sturgeon were essentially eradicated from the Saco River for 60 years.  Now we’ve been seeing the slow revival of them, beginning in 2007.  And now we’re seeing these huge sturgeon in our river system that we’ve never seen before.”

“Sturzilla,” as the giant fish was named, was the largest recorded in the Saco River since the 19th century.

The researchers collected blood and tissue samples and tagged the fish before releasing them back into the Saco.

Read the Bangor Daily News article
Read two Portland Press Herald articles:   June 6th issue     June 7th issue
Watch NECN video
Watch WMTW 8 video
Watch WCSH 6 video

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.