[citation needed] The species can tolerate wide spread salinities and spend most of their lives in saltwater but migrate to spawn in freshwater.

The last time the species hatched was in the Garonne River in France in 1994, and genetic analysis reveals that the 1994 cohort was formed by only one mating pair.

Although restoration operations, such as artificially bred individual restocking, have been successful in the Gironde estuary and the Elbe River (Germany), recovery for the European sturgeon is a long process that might take 30-50 years.

[1] Bycatch emerges as the primary threat to European sea sturgeon populations, having played a crucial role in reducing their numbers in the past.

This ongoing threat poses a considerable risk to the recovery of self-sustaining populations, necessitating targeted conservation measures to address the issue and mitigate its impact.

[1] The extraction of gravel in the Garonne river in France and Spain poses a potential threat to European sea sturgeon populations.

This activity, along with dam construction, contributes to habitat degradation, impacting the availability of suitable spawning and feeding sites.

Additionally, the introduction of alien predators has been identified as a significant impact, hindering the recovery of sturgeon populations, as highlighted by the OSPAR Commission in 2019.