Covered in bony plates, the Atlantic sturgeon once thrived in New Hampshire waterways such as the Piscataqua River, but the prehistoric fish has virtually disappeared from the state's inland rivers, a result of overfishing and industrial development.
The Atlantic sturgeon hasn't been wiped out entirely in the northeast; researchers have documented stable populations at the mouth of the Merrimack River and in Maine. But in New Hampshire, the state Fish and Game Department has recorded only half a dozen encounters between humans and Atlantic sturgeon in the last three decades.
"It's one of America's classic environmental stories," said Bolster, who spotted his first Atlantic sturgeon in the Saint John River in New Brunswick, Canada several years ago.
It was, therefore, surprising when, in August 2007, Bolster and a group of UNH students inadvertently captured an Atlantic sturgeon in a fishing net near the Isles of Shoals. The group was riding a chartered fishing boat out of Hampton Harbor, and was halfway between the Port of Seabrook and the Isles, when they snagged a live sturgeon in a gill net. They quickly snapped a few photos before releasing it back into the water.
Read the complete story from Foster's Daily Democrat.