In order to better understand the population and improve knowledge of the ecology of the species, a tagging-recapture campaign was undertaken in partnership with professional fishermen in the Gironde basin in 1983.

Based on scientific knowledge of the species, which has borne witness to the long migrations made by the European sturgeon, this operation was complemented by different communication campaigns targeting fishermen on the French coasts who may accidently catch the fish.

Since the start of the programme to monitor the species in its natural environment, over 5,000 sturgeon have been tagged before being released.  The estuary areas that are most frequented by the juvenile populations have thus been identified with greater precision.  At the same time, scientists have gathered information on the marine range of the European sturgeon thanks to by-catch declarations made by fishermen, especially of sturgeon tagged in the Gironde.  Today, thanks to this system, we know that this area in the North-East Atlantic extends from the Bay of Biscay to Scandinavia.