In 1976, Congress passed the Magnuson-Stevens Act (Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act). The Act originally focused on zoning and controlling territorial waters, and establishing regional councils to manage fish stocks, among other things. The Act has been reauthorized a several times and has generally been viewed as a bipartisan success story. Many fish stocks have…
Artifacts of epochs past: Rio Grande cutthroat trout benefit from private lands conservation
By Craig Springer One might say that the past is dead and gone—but that notion doesn’t fly on the Vermejo Park Ranch, near Raton, New Mexico. Managers of this private land seek to restore long reaches of mountain streams for the benefit of native Rio Grande cutthroat trout—not to mention the guided anglers who seek…
Electrofrogging: Zapping frogs on the front-line of invasion
Bullfrogs eat just about anything, including fish, mammals, crustaceans, and other amphibians, hence the concern with their introduction. Electrofrogging is an effective technique to interrupt their forward march.
How “little brother syndrome” makes our fisheries profession stronger
We instinctually look for and look up to “big brothers” in our organizations and careers. There can be great value in harnessing “little brother syndrome” to push our fisheries profession foward.
Jurassic World Fishes [Swimming Today]
Sharp teeth, bizarre shapes, gargantuan sizes, and a family tree that dates back over 100 million years…I’m not talking about dinosaurs, but ancient freshwater fishes! Twenty-five years ago today (June 11, 1993), Jurassic Park debuted in theaters. That date is fossilized in my mind because I recorded the trailer on VHS (wow, talk about ancient)…
The ideal invasive fish
There are hundreds of non-native fishes in the US. Some become harmful invaders, while others have established, but aren’t causing appreciable negative effects. As human transport networks continue to facilitate new introductions, it makes sense to ask, ‘is there something special about certain fishes that make them invasive?’. This isn’t a new idea—plant ecologists have discussed…
NOAA’s Status of Stocks
Last week NOAA Fisheries announced the status of the fish stocks in the US and reported the lowest ever number of stocks on the overfished list. The 2017 Report can be found here. Recalled that the overfished status refers to the biomass of the stock being too low, and the overfishing status refers to the…
Are fish ‘Bad Moms’?
By: Dana Sackett The lives of fish cannot technically be compared to the lives and pressures placed on today’s human moms (that then naturally let loose in an epic party). However, in honor of Mother’s Day we decided to share some of the maternal roles fish play and imagine if these same roles existed for…
Radios Reveal Wandering Habits of Smallmouth Bass in Oklahoma: Angler-funded research lends greater understanding of one of America’s greatest sport fish
By Craig Springer, USFWS About the time that redbuds flash their pretty pinkish blooms on eastern Oklahoma’s hillsides and gray streamside sycamores unfurl their fresh leaves the color akin to a wet lime, there’s something curious going on. And it goes mostly sight unseen. Smallmouth bass are on the move with the singular purpose of…
The fish so nice, we named ’em twice
There are some weird fish that have the same name twice. We celebrate these oddities by turning them into fun art.
