Striped bass is the subject of important commercial and sport fisheries in North America. The Roanoke River drainage—especially Smith Mountain Lake, Leesville Lake, and Kerr Reservoir—has popular recreational striped bass fisheries. After construction of five hydroelectric dams, populations became landlocked, declined, and have been supplemented by stocking. A key basis for responsibly augmenting populations is to characterize...

There is considerable interest in restoring stocks of Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrinchus ), one of only two dozen extant sturgeons worldwide. Populations of its two subspecies are found in large rivers along the North American coasts of the Atlantic ( A. o. oxyrinchus ) and the Gulf of Mexico ( A. o. desotoi ). Although these populations were severely reduced because of overfishing and, in some instances, blockage of spa...