Herman the Sturgeon at Bonneville Fish Hatchery

Herman is an (approximately) 11 foot long, 500 pound, 70 year old white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) who resides at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery at the mouth of Tanner Creek on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.

Just as there was more than one Lassie the collie, this is not the first Herman. The original Herman was taken to state fairs by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for about 50 years and was kept in a small pond at Bonneville the remainder of the year.

There are local myths about someone stealing the original Herman many years ago. Apparently those stories are rooted in an incident 30 years ago in which someone broke into the hatchery grounds and injured one of the sturgeon. Fortunately, the injured fish survived the attack.

The ODFW replaced Herman I with a river-caught fish in 1998. That year the ODFW and the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation built a new and very natural looking pond with an underwater viewing window for Herman II. That is where this picture was taken.

The Columbia River is home to both white and green sturgeon. White sturgeon are more abundant in the Columbia and and grow larger than green sturgeon. White sturgeon are the largest freshwater fish in North America and can grow to almost 20 feet long, weigh over 1000 pounds, and live for more than 100 years. Sturgeon have existed for 175 million years according to fossil records, and have changed very little during that time. Like another ancient fish family, the sharks, sturgeon have a cartilaginous (rather than bony) skeleton.

Sturgeon are anadromous, like salmon and shad. Unfortunately, sturgeon cannot navigate fish ladders like salmon do, so the population of sturgeon below Bonneville, the first dam upstream from the Pacific Ocean, can no longer reach the upper Columbia River or the Snake River. Populations between the dams upstream from Bonneville are permanently isolated from the ocean and other parts of the river. The population below Bonneville is relatively healthy, but the populations in the upriver pools are not.

Sturgeon fishing is a popular sport on the Columbia River. Several licensed guides offer guided fishing trips for sturgeon. Two of the most popular areas are the Astoria area and a few miles below Bonneville Dam near Multnomah Falls.

Photo tips: If you want to take your own picture of Herman, here are 2 tips that will improve your results: First, make sure that your flash is turned off. Shooting through a viewing window like this, the flash will reflect off the glass or plastic and back into the lens. Second, bring your camera as close to the glass as possible. This helps eliminate capturing reflections of yourself and other people who may be standing nearby.