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 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
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 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
Why You Need Granders in a Blue Marlin Fishery The capture of a marlin greater than 500 kg represents a major life achievement for billfish anglers, and fishers refer to marlin of that size using colloquial descriptors such as “Grander” or “Big Julie” depending on location and species. However, their presence in a fishery is... Read More
The invasion of Caribbean reef systems by lionfish Pterois spp. is well documented, and they are now encountered commonly by anglers and sport divers in many areas. However, a trawl survey conducted by the authors found them to be even more widespread in deep (>30 m) low-relief habitats and abundance increased sharply during 2010–2013. Read More
Every year, commercial fishing traps are lost, abandoned, or discarded, contributing to the ever-increasing amount of marine debris submerged on the seafloor. Although recognized worldwide as a detriment to marine ecosystems, quantitative data on the amount of abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear is lacking. This journal review originally appeared in the April 2015 issue of Fisheries... Read More
Journal Summary: Predicting Brook Trout Occurrence in Stream Reaches throughout their Native Range in the Eastern United States Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis are a popular sport species, but their conservation status is of great concern because many eastern populations have declined. Brook Trout are a paradox. From a basin perspective, they are still present throughout... Read More
• Evaluation of hydrogenated soybean oil in feeds for hybrid Striped Bass fed in conjunction with finishing periods of different durations • Dietary supplementation with allspice Pimenta dioica reduces the occurrence of streptococcal disease during first feeding of Mozambique Tilapia fry The science of aquaculture has been on a long journey toward sustainable practices, and... Read More
Cast nets are commonly used by both sport and commercial anglers in estuarine habitats along the southern U.S. coast, but they are rarely used by fisheries scientists, especially when compared to other gears. This is due to the fact that they require practice and skill to deploy, but also because sampling with them is considered... Read More
