About 10 miles downstream from Richmond is a stretch of the James River that quietly bends into a series of dramatic looping oxbows. One afternoon, during the first week of fall, Dr.
Matt Balazik piloted his small research boat to the first of these curves. He passed a towering coal plant and forested riverbanks before cutting his motor and preparing his net to try to catch some prehistoric giants that visit these tidal waters.
During the Civil War, Union forces carved a canal across one of the oxbows. Today this cut-through is the main channel for the river, known as Dutch Gap.
Its deep, gravelly bottom is one of the best sturgeon spawning areas on the river, which is itself a key stronghold for the species. Balazik, a member of the research faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University Rice Rivers Center, has been studying sturgeon for roughly 20 years, long enough to get a more accurate understanding of their populations.
Over the years, Balazik has caught over unique adults in the James, fitting each with unique passive integrated transponders, or PIT tags. The James River has stations set up to read the tags of passing fish, much like the toll stations on a highway.
