News

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

A Novel and Efficient Way to Assess Net Pen Impacts

Net pen culture has become widespread, and there is growing concern about impacts to benthic communities below the facilities. Potential impacts are hard to assess because the ideal sites for net pen culture are deep, often have currents or cold temperatures, and have patchy substrates that can’t be grab-sampled. Hamoutene et al. (2015) overcame this... Read More

Whirling Disease is Fortunately Not a Permanent Condition

Whirling disease caused by Myxobolus cerebralis is a scourge for fish culturists and salmonid biologists, and rumors have circulated for decades that its myxospores remain viable for years. Nehring et al. (2015) used a carefully designed time-delay study that exposed susceptible oligochaetes to myxospores and then measured production of actinospores as evidence of myxospore viability.... Read More