By Patrick Cooney Patrick Cooney My perch atop a 100-foot waterfall affords a small break in the tropical rainforest canopy that frames a distant golden-sand Caribbean beach. I crouch in the heavy humid air, anxiously awaiting the arrival of a fish that is reaching the tail end of an arduous journey incredibly disproportionate to the…
Author: Patrick Cooney
The Trouble with Shark Week
Dear Discovery Channel, Please pick a theme for Shark Week! In a fear evoking frenzy, you arbitrarily rank the most deadly sharks and most gruesome attacks, then go on to demonstrate the ecological importance of sharks and the need to save them. Your constant back-and-forth is very confusing and may be doing more harm than…
What is the Most Popular Outdoor Activity in the US?
Question: How do you entertain 16 children with diverse backgrounds for 2 hours without a single complaint? Answer: Take them fishing of course! What a catch! Me and my wife teaching kids how to fish. Isn’t she a good sport? (Photo: Josh Raabe) Fishing Rises in Popularity Recreational fishing is currently the most popular outdoor activity in…
What Do Las Vegas and Coral Reefs Have in Common?
Coral Reefs: The Las Vegas of the Sea (Credit: Patrick Cooney) Dirty Little Secret I will let you in on a dirty little secret of mine: I am not a fish biologist. I study corals. Unlike fish, corals do not migrate, they do not school, and last I checked, they aren’t even delicious. Putting it…
Fracking: The Final Part
We have recently deviated from the usual diet of fisheries-related themes, but our recent report on fracking received more momentum than expected. In return, we gained the attention of a licensed geologist. Here we share his forward projections about the fracking issue. A geologist’s thoughts on fracking Simon Kline, Licensed Geologist in the State of North Carolina…
Captain America Sells Vote For Fracking
By Patrick Cooney CAPTAIN AMERICA SELLS VOTE TO ALLOW FRACKING IN NORTH CAROLINA As a “follow up” to Fracking Harms Fish, this article discusses the politics surrounding fracking in North Carolina. As such, this is not one of our normal weekly fisheries related posts with The Fisheries Blog. Please feel free to leave constructive comments…
Fracking Harms Fish Through the Halliburton Loophole
(Credit: Gasland) Before we begin to grasp the impacts of Fracking on fish, let’s take a quick look at an energy boom that swept the continent and world more than a century ago that presented similar challenges. Like a scene in a cheesy 80’s movie, my family pushed south on Interstate 5 on our annual journey through California’s Central Valley…
JAWS Returns: Signs of recovery in well-managed shark populations
Humans have done far more damage to great white shark populations than they have done to us. (Credit: Tobey Curtis) Sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, have become poster children for the ‘global overfishing crisis’. Largely due to increasing demand for high-priced shark fin soup in Asia, shark populations worldwide have…
Cutthroat Conservation: Saving the Yellowstone Ecosystem
Yellowstone cutthroat trout deserve intense focus. (Photo: Patrick Cooney) An elusive Lamar River Yellowstone cutthroat trout was the target for my only fishing day in Yellowstone National Park, and an early autumn sow-bellied beauty was eyeing my offering. As my eyes intensely focused on the golden prize, and my finger balanced delicately on the line like a needle…
Eliminating an Invasive Predator: Lessons From Lake Davis Pike
It was like the loud crash of an old Batman episode: BOOM!! KAPOW!! The shock waves from the explosion tore through the water and blew the fish apart from the inside by fatally rupturing the gas filled swim bladder, the organ designed to provide buoyancy in the water column. Desperate times and previous blunders had led…
Modeling Gig Over Spring Break!
Folks…we have our first Guest Author! Below you will find an account of an Undergraduate Student’s all expense paid trip to the Florida Keys to model for Spring Break. PARTY TIME!!! While I have not lied, I have misled. The student attended a high level fish population modeling course called the Marine Resources Population Dynamics Workshop at…
The Forgotten Name in Sport Fish Restoration
The Sport Fish Restoration Act is such a successful program in the United States that few anglers know that it took 11 years, an expensive world war, and overcoming a Presidential veto to eventually become law. Not only do we take for granted the immense struggle that was surmounted to enact this legislation, but we don’t even associate…
Millions Displaced by Dams
As a fish person, I have heard the joke a hundred times, and each time I must pretend that it is the first time in order to not deflate the enthusiasm of the joke teller. You know the one, “What did the fish say when it ran into the wall?” I wait, not too long,…
5% of US Freshwater Fish Species Petitioned for Endangered or Threatened Status
Watersheds with 10 or more at-risk fish and mussel species are concentrated in the Southeast, reflecting the extraordinary species diversity of rivers and streams in this region. (Rivers of Life) The dynamic physiographic provinces spanning the Southeastern United States, comprised of mountains, piedmont, and coastal plains, combined with the historic absence of ice sheets…
The Fish Are Fighting Back!
By Patrick Cooney As the mist swirls from the tannin stained Okefenokee Swamp water, prehistoric behemoths lurk below waiting to “maim”, “strike”, “clobber”, and “attack.” Lacking teeth, they utilize their sheer size and sharp bone-like protrusions against us humans. Weighing up to 220 pounds and reaching lengths of eight feet, the stealth attackers have struck…
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