Serge Doroshov

Despite regulations limiting commercial fishing and conservation efforts, global overfishing and poaching of sturgeon since the nineteenth century decimated and continues to threaten wild sturgeon populations. In the twentieth century, other commercial fishing increasingly relied on aquaculture to satisfy market demand, but commercial sturgeon aquaculture had not developed before the 1980s due to challenges breeding sturgeon in hatcheries. Wild female sturgeon generally do not spawn until they are 15–20 years old and have complicated reproduction cycles that are difficult to synthesize in hatcheries.^[6] By the 1970s, scientists in the Soviet Union had begun making advancements in sturgeon hatchery reproduction.^[6]

Doroshov arrived at UC Davis with knowledge and experience from the advanced Soviet aquacultural program.^[7] Quickly upon arriving at UC Davis in 1978, Doroshov began research with the white sturgeon native to California. In 1979, Doroshov received funding from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to research reproductive physiology and broodstock development of white sturgeon.^[2] In 1980, Doroshov's team successfully spawned the first wild white sturgeon broodstock in a research hatchery at UC Davis.^[2] In 1981, Doroshov's team spawned the first wild broodstock by a commercial farm in California.^[2]

In the 1980s, Doroshov helped apply his science to support and develop private hatcheries in Sacramento County. In 1988, Doroshov led the publication of the Hatchery Manual for White Sturgeon, a detailed guide of best practices for industry farmers and other researchers.^[2] Sacramento County's largest sturgeon and caviar producers benefitted from frequent collaborations with Doroshov and his team.^[1][8][9]

In the 1980s, Doroshov "viewed the project purely as an intellectual pursuit"^[9] and as of 2001 he still didn't think the local industry would be hugely profitable.^[10]

By 2022, Sacramento County sturgeon caviar producers accounted more than $30 million revenue^[11] and sourced about 80% of the United States’ domestic caviar, supplying many of the country's finest restaurants.^[3] Sacramento is now known as the "caviar capital of the United States."^[1][3]

Doroshov authored over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers and books.^[2] He also received many awards and honors including the California Aquaculture Association Distinguished Service Award (1998), World Aquaculture Association Honorary Lifetime Membership Award (2000), and the National Aquaculture Association Joseph P. McCraren Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Aquaculture Industry (2018).^[2]

Doroshov appeared as himself in a 1995 documentary, "Sturgeon: Ancient Survivors of the Deep".^[12]