Sturgeon spotted in Turku Archipelago after decades of absence

Jari Karlsson had to rub his eyes in disbelief when he pulled up his fishing nets at his cottage in the Turku Archipelago last week. Karlsson spends time at his cottage in Nauvo, where he places fishing nets in the water nearly every day. In mid-August, he encountered something larger than the usual perch.

“I lifted the net in the early evening, around five or six o’clock. I noticed a peculiar-looking and big fish,” Karlsson recounted. He placed the fish on a rock and took a photo, unsure of its species. The fish measured an impressive 91 centimeters and weighed 1.7 kilos.

A local retired sea captain came by, recognized the fish as a sturgeon, claiming he hadn’t seen one in 50 years, Karlsson described.

The Finnish Natural Resources Institute (Luke) is collecting fish sightings through its dedicated observation service. Following the photo documentation, the sturgeon was released back into the Archipelago Sea.

Mikko Olin, a specialist researcher at Luke, noted that sightings of sturgeon have been reported one to three times a year, with the last sighting recorded in October of the previous year. Olin examined Karlsson’s photo and identified the fish as a blue sturgeon, now referred to as the Atlantic sturgeon.

“I can’t say the exact species because the underside of the snout isn’t visible. There are several different sturgeon species in the Baltic Sea. The sturgeon caught is likely from reintroductions, as efforts are being made to restore the species to the Baltic Sea,” Olin explained. Luke announced last August that Atlantic sturgeon fry were released into the Pärnu River and Narva River in Estonia as part of a joint EU project. The Atlantic sturgeon, once common in the Baltic, disappeared in the 20th century.