Serge Doroshov

Serge I. Doroshov (1937–2020) was an animal science professor known as the "father of sturgeon aquaculture." He was born and educated in the Soviet Union, but defected and was granted political asylum in the United States.

Early life

Doroshov was born in Western Siberia in 1937. In 1943, after both his parents died, he moved to Moscow to live with his older sister. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in zoology from the University of Moscow (1959) and a Ph.D. in biology from the Russian Academy of Science (1967).

Work on sturgeon aquaculture

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. By the 1970s, scientists in the Soviet Union had begun making advancements in sturgeon hatchery reproduction. 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.

In the 1980s, Doroshov "viewed the project purely as an intellectual pursuit"

By 2022, Sacramento County sturgeon caviar producers accounted more than $30 million revenue and sourced about 80% of the United States’ domestic caviar, supplying many of the country's finest restaurants.