Sturgeon are ancient fish farmed primarily for caviar production, involving long growth periods and unique welfare challenges. Understanding their needs is important as aquaculture replaces the wild fishery for these critically endangered species.
Sturgeon welfare in aquaculture presents unique challenges due to their longevity, size, and specific environmental needs. As benthic fish, sturgeon require access to substrate for normal behaviour — raised raceways or bare tanks deny important foraging and resting behaviour. Water quality management over multi-year production cycles requires sustained investment. The traditional killing of females at harvest caused enormous welfare harm — non-lethal egg extraction methods now allow females to survive and produce multiple egg batches, simultaneously improving welfare and farm economics. Crowding during the production period causes injury from their bony scutes, and handling stress during egg extraction requires careful management. The most welfare-positive farms use ultrasound imaging to time harvest precisely, reducing repeated invasive procedures.