Children lend a hand to place sturgeon in Coosa tributary

ROME - Third-graders lent a hand Wednesday to help the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reintroduce lake sturgeon to the Coosa River system. <br> <br> Two classes from Coosa Elementary School scooped the 7-month-old fish out of tanks and into the Oostanaula River at the Ga. 140 bridge as a frigid rain streamed down. <br> <br> ``I like the way they&#39;re bumpy and smooth. And the way they swim up to the top,&#39;&#39; said student Kelly Arthur. Other pupils said the fish with shark-like tails and sucker-like mouths were ``creepy.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The 1,000 to 1,500 fish being released into local rivers are less than a foot long. Full-grown sturgeon, which can live for more than 100 years, usually weigh between 40 and 80 pounds, with some even growing as large as 200 or 300 pounds, said Wayne Probst, DNR regional fisheries supervisor. <br> <br> ``The last time we had sturgeon in numbers around here was in the 1960s,&#39;&#39; said Probst. ``There were only a few seen in the 1970s and by the 1980s there were none.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``The three things blamed for the decline of the sturgeon population are overharvesting, pollution and dams,&#39;&#39; Probst said. <br> <br> The overharvest of sturgeon for their flesh and eggs, which make good quality caviar, is the main reason.