ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Students from Archangel School in Gates were on hand as the DEC, U.S. Geological Survey, Fish and Wildlife Services and the Seneca Park Zoo released the new fingerlings.

The lake sturgeon has been a species of concern across the Great Lakes Region for decades. The Genesee River had a substantial number of lake sturgeon in the early 1900s and they were historically abundant in Lake Ontario. They disappeared over time due to overfishing and habitat destruction.

"The Genesee's a fairly small and there was a market fisherman who caught them all and shipped them all down to New York City pretty much," said Dawn Dittman, U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist. "Also the pollution compromises the hatching of the eggs and so on. So it was a combination pollution and fishing."

Fish and wildlife experts say the sturgeon restoration program is working. However it remains a longterm project in hopes of returning the species to where it was 100 years ago.

Testing over the last three years found the Genesee and Lake Ontario are no longer toxic. A number of fingerlings previous released are growing well weighing between 17 and 27 pounds with lengths up to 47 inches.

"We started in 2003 we released 2,000 fish back in 2003-2004," said Dr. Jeff Wyatt, Seneca Park Zoo Wildlife Health and Conservation director. "So our 13-year-olds we examined this morning with our netting, they're four feet long. We have a ten year commitment and we have six more to go releasing 1,000 fish per year. This year we released 500 and we'll begin releasing 1,000 next year so we have a longterm commitment."

Lake sturgeon are not only good tasting fish, they're eggs are a valuable commodity for caviar.  However it'll be several years before they can be legally fished.

"These fish take over a decade, almost 15 years to be ready to reproduce on their own so it's a long time before these fish will be ready," said Paul D'Amato, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. "Even the ones that were originally stalked in 2003-2004 are just getting to the point of reproduction. So until you get a large sustained population, fishing won't be allowed."