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Fisheries News & Science

Solutions to California’s Drought Issues: Modeling Suggests Ways to Conserve Chinook Salmon in the Face of Water Diversion

Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha smolts emigrating the Sacramento River in California must navigate through a delta complex with water diversions that confer lower survival for entrained fish that leave the river. Russell Perry of the U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center, and his colleagues fit an entrainment model to telemetry data and found that... Read More

Probiotics Show Promise for Aquaculture

Television viewers are now being carpet-bombed with advertising for probiotics that are alleged to improve human health via promotion of beneficial gut bacteria. But probiotics may play a real role in aquaculture where ZhiPing Yang (Dalian Huixin Titanium Equipment Development Company) and colleagues fed live yeast to cultured sea cucumbers and later challenged them to... Read More

Using a Video Lander to Assess Difficult Marine Habitats

Deep temperate marine zones are known to support significant biological production, but they are difficult to sample because they are too deep for SCUBA and too complex for traditional nets. Ryan Easton of Oregon State University and his other colleagues found a way to do it that is not only feasible but quantitative. This journal... Read More

Bluegill Can Be Managed More Effectively with Bag Limits!

Many inland fisheries historically have allowed unlimited harvest of panfish, or have extremely liberal bag limits. The management paradigm is that fishing mortality is usually low and high harvests benefit angling by improving growth and preventing stunting. However, a new study by Andew Rypel of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Science Services,... Read More

Coping with Crisis: Lessons from the Maine Lobster Fishery

How fisheries respond to crisis is, unfortunately, a topic of ever growing importance. Anna Henry and Teresa Johnson (School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine) used a people ecology approach to examine how fishers responded to three recent changes in the Maine lobster Homarus americanus fishery, and the reasons why those responses may have been... Read More

Ozone Disinfection Has Minimal Impacts on Larvae of Three Important Species in Aquaculture

Hatchery managers and aquaculturists love to work with fertilized fish eggs because they provide a handling window in which eggs can be manipulated physically without damage. Thus, fertilized egg shipments are commonplace. However, they also worry about disease, and egg shipments require rigorous disinfection with harsh chemicals. Ozone represents a drug-free alternative, but there have... Read More

Artificial Reef Types Affect Red Snapper Sizes

Alabama has the most extensive artificial reef program in the United States, with 15,000-plus artificial reefs. This may come as a surprise to some, considering the state’s coastline is only 60 miles long. With few natural reefs, the government of Alabama and its residents had to be creative when trying to increase fishing opportunities. Since... Read More

Catch-and-Release Practices Inhibit Refuge—Seeking Behavior in Fish

Catch and release is a common practice in the management and conservation of recreational fisheries. In theory, fish are caught and released with minimal harm, allowing them to survive, spawn, and be captured again. In reality, released fish may suffer from physical injuries as well as behavioral impairments, increasing their risk to predators. Fortunately, in... Read More