Many of us have heard from an older generation just how hard it was to collect data. And forget about the analysis—I’ve been led to believe that entire reports and scientific papers have been written solely dependent upon the slide rule! But no matter what hyperbole one employes to describe what they once went through,…
The BP oil spill saga continues..
By: Dana Sackett More than 2 years have passed since the BP–Deepwater Horizon rig spill caused more than 200 million gallons of oil and 1.8 million gallons of dispersants to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite being one of the largest oil spills in history, the Gulf fisheries were back in business only…
Why do native plants matter?
Plants are often overlooked as important contributors to the long term health and integrity of aquatic systems. As a result, impacts to riparian areas as well as invasive vegetation introductions have had devastating impacts on fish populations across the globe. For example, Appalachian brook trout were once found in abundance from Canada to Georgia along…
Q-n-A: Journal Editor
Welcome to The Fisheries Blog‘s second Q-n-A! This segment is designed to showcase the knowledge and specialty of someone in the fisheries world who flat out knows their stuff. For this Q-n-A, we are featuring Derek Aday, the new Editor of Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. I recently asked Derek what it’s like to…
Something’s Fishy
By: Dana Sackett To kick-off the New Year, I wanted to share something fun, and what’s more fun than fish idioms! You may be wondering: what’s an idiom? An idiom is a figurative expression such as “big fish in a small pond” or “fishing for a compliment.” Some fish expressions are relatively obvious in their…
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays from The Fisheries Blog! We at The Fisheries Blog —Steve, Patrick, and Dana— want to extend a huge thanks to those who have read our weekly posts, as well as to several incredible guest writers who graced our pages over the last year. Further, thank you for the positive feedback about our content. …
The Christmas Carp in My Bathtub
By Patrick Cooney Taking a morning bath with my Christmas dinner is growing stranger by the day. While many Christmas cooks will opt for an encore performance of a holiday gobbler or a stereotypical honey baked ham, I on the other hand have taken the challenge of raising a Christmas Carp. Elaborate holiday fish meals…
Coral calls for help and fish respond
By: Dana Sackett An interesting symbiotic relationship (defined as a close and often long-term interaction between two or more species) highlighted in a recent Science article demonstrates the delicate balance between species in aquatic ecosystems and how chemicals can be used to harm and benefit both corals and fish. Here I discuss this article and…
Tracking Sharks in the Space Age
In Wes Anderson’s hit film The Life Aquatic, Captain Steve Zissou attached a “homing dart” to a Jaguar Shark so he could later track it down and kill it in an effort to avenge the death of his friend. Continuous yellow blips on their ship’s instruments allowed Team Zissou to track the shark across…
Hurricane Impacts on Fish
By Steve Midway As the Northeast US continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, we are all reminded of the danger that hurricanes (now in some cases “superstorms”) pose. And with the admonishment that such storms might be stronger and/or more frequent in the future, we will all need to increasingly consider the negative impacts of…
Dam trout: How do trout populations respond to altered flow?
By: Aaron Bunch The basic premise of adaptive management is to learn from previous actions and adjust accordingly with the ultimate goal of reducing uncertainty over time. The goal of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program is to minimize impacts to ecological and cultural resources downstream from Glen Canyon Dam as the Colorado River…
Electrofishing: How to be effective
By Patrick Cooney While hook and line fishing is the most popular method of catching fish by freshwater anglers, electrofishing is one of the most popular methods used by fisheries biologists. But what exactly is electrofishing, and how is it done properly? Boat electrofishing (Photo: Josh Raabe) Similar to stun guns used by police to…
Rotenone: the fish killer
By Dana Sackett Rotenone has been used for centuries by fishermen to harvest fish. More recently, scientists and fishery managers have used rotenone to sample fishes and remove unwanted species from freshwater systems. But how does this toxic chemical work so effectively to kill fish, is it toxic to other species including humans, and…
Why are there fish in my peanut butter?
By Patrick Cooney We have all heard of Jelly Fish, but what about Peanut Butter Fish? If you found a fish in your peanut butter, would you take the jar back and demand a refund, or would you dive right in and smear the tainted spread across your sandwich? What about finding a fish in…
Bottom of the barrel – Expansion of fishing to the deep sea is not sustainable
By: Dr. Jeff Drazen Department of Oceanography University of Hawaii Over the last 50-60 years many shallow water fish stocks have become depleted and others have outright collapsed. As a result fishers have targeted fish stocks in deeper and deeper waters. Studies on global catch have shown that the average depth of catch has increased…
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