by Brandon Peoples Boat electrofishing is one of the most effective methods of sampling fishes in lakes and non-wadeable rivers. Depletion boat electrofishing involves conducting several electrofishing passes while retaining fish after each pass. Hopefully, workers will capture consistently less fish in each pass. Depletion electrofishing allows biologists to perform quantitative population estimates, rather…
Category: The Fisheries Blog
River roaches: The Quest to Better Understand Crayfish
by Michael Moore, guest blogger Some call them yabbis, mudbugs or spoondogs. But most of you know them by a different name: crayfish. My scientific introduction to crayfish was by another name–“ the cockroaches of the creek“; they eat everything and everything eats them!”This was the answer I received when asking a scientist about crayfish. Comparing something…
4 “must get” items for freshman fisheries students
by Brandon Peoples Did your high school counselor have any good tips for you when you said you wanted to be a fish biologist? Probably not. In this week’s post, I clarify a few misconceptions you may have about what you’ll encounter in the next few years. If you want to be successful, here are…
Advice for freshman fisheries students: join AFS
by Brandon Peoples Let me start off by saying that I don’t claim to be “successful,” or that I’ve “made it” in the fisheries profession. In fact, I’m still a student—just beginning the fourth year of my PhD studies. However, I can say that I’ve been active in fisheries science long enough to notice a…
Signature electrofishing moves
by Brandon Peoples In this week’s post, I break from our normal scientific articles to add a bit of field work humor with a comic. Non-lethal and incredibly effective, electrofishing is one of the most important sampling techniques in a fish biologist’s toolbox. But like any sampling method, electrofishing can be biased toward catching certain species…
Fish Science: It’s what we do.
Being outside with family and friends allows time for reflection and remembrance of those who came before us and provided us incredible opportunities. The five of us at The Fisheries Blog encourage you to take that time this week. Get outside today and we will see you next week!
Off-the-wall fishing derbies raise participation and awareness
by Don Orth and Brandon Peoples Decline in recreational angling is a major concern of resource managers in North America as agency revenues are tied to license sales and excise taxes on fishing and motorboat fuel. Anglers have many reasons to fish, and fisheries scientists foster this understanding by using angler typologies based on angler…
5 Ways Mountaintop Removal affects Streams
It’s not hard for everyday citizens to take a position on mountaintop coal mining. The web is scattered with nasty before-and-after photos of mine sites and gripping narratives of environmental degradation. But sometimes it can be tough to hear the science over the screaming. After all, few of us spend time digging through scientific literature…
Strange Spawning: interesting reproductive fish facts exposed
by Brandon Peoples We’ve written indirectly about some strange spawning here on The Fisheries Blog…like how Nemo was a hermaphrodite who would have mated with his female dad …or how bluehead chubs want to spawn so bad, they’ll carry rocks twice the size of their head to build massive reproductive pyramids…or even how salmon travel…
Reflections on 2013
It has been a great 2013 for The Fisheries Blog as we’ve seen our audience grow, largely as our topics and writers have increased. To finish up the year, we will borrow a concept from others and give you what you are truly craving—the best of 2013! But before we hit the highlights, listen to Patrick Cooney,…
Happy Holidays from The Fisheries Blog!
Happy Holidays from The Fisheries Blog! Dr. Abigail Lynch, Patrick Cooney, Brandon Peoples, Dr. Dana Sackett, and Dr. Steve Midway thank you for another great year! Please check in next Monday for highlights on our articles and guests from 2013. Be sure to like The Fisheries Blog on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@FisheriesBlog).
Come see our presentation
If you are going to be at the American Fisheries Society meeting this coming week in Little Rock Arkansas, be sure to see our presentation: Communicating Fisheries Science to an Internet Audience Tuesday morning (10:40am, 09/10/2013) Fulton Room
Happy 4th of July from The Fisheries Blog!
We here at The Fisheries Blog are taking a week off—our summer vacation! We’ll be back with new content next week, but to all our readers: Enjoy the holiday week and we’ll see you soon! And for those who just need something to read, here’s a short, light read that will make you smile. (Source)…
Anadromous, Catadromous, Amphidromous, Oceanodromous, or Potamodromous
By Patrick Cooney Can you say ‘potamodromous‘ and can you guess what it means? A) Mood disorder from eating too many potatoes. B) An aquatic dinosaur that crawled across land. C) A migration of fish entirely in freshwater. If you pronounced it like ‘poe-tuh-moe-droe-miss’, then you are off to a great start. But what about the…
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