NOAA and fishermen cooperate on monkfish research

7th Space
By Shelley Dawicki
January 28, 2010

Researchers are working with commercial fishermen to put electronic tags on hundreds of monkfish (Lophius americanus) in the waters of southern New England and the Gulf of Maine to track where the commercially important fish goes during its lifetime, and to answer other questions about its biology.

"Although monkfish is the highest valued finfish in the northeast U.S ., aspects of the fish's basic biology and behavior are poorly understood, such as their migration patterns, what depths they live in and how they use habitat," said Anne Richards, one of the study's lead investigators and a monkfish expert at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Coho salmon get a boost in Lake Washington

The Seattle Times
By Mark Yuasa
January 28, 2010

Lake Washington has been getting an annual plant of coho salmon in hopes of increasing their population in the huge urban watershed.

The Bellevue Stream Team in partnership with Roger Urbaniak, a member of the Puget Sound Anglers Lake Washington Chapter, operate the site on private property better known as the Kelsey Creek Coho Incubator Site in Bellevue.

Sacramento splittail gets a fresh chance at survival

Environment News Service
January 26, 2010

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to revisit the politically twisted 2003 Bush administration decision to strip a California minnow called the Sacramento splittail of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The settlement was reached Friday in a lawsuit brought by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity against the federal government on behalf of the small fish found only in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, streams of the Central Valley, and the Napa and Petaluma rivers.

Deadly fish virus now found in all Great Lakes

Phys Org
January 27, 2010

A deadly fish virus that was first discovered in the Northeast in 2005 has been found for the first time in fish from Lake Superior, report Cornell researchers. That means that the virus has now been documented in all of the Great Lakes.

The viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), which causes fatal anemia and hemorrhaging in many fish species, poses no threat to humans, said Paul Bowser, professor of aquatic animal medicine at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Tuna stocks 'booming' at time of quota cuts

ABC News
January 26, 2010

Australia's southern bluefin tuna industry says stocks are booming and this year's catch will be six weeks sooner than usual.

Fishing boats are already returning to Port Lincoln in South Australia with their catch, at a time when the industry is facing quota cuts because scientists say fish stocks are low.

Proposal to halt commercial bass fishing

The Cape Codder
By Rich Eldred
January 25, 2010

It's illegal to catch any striped bass more than three miles from shore and inshore fishing could face a clampdown as well.

On Jan. 14, the state Legislature's joint committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture held a hearing on HD 245, a bill filed by Rep. Matt Patrick of Falmouth, that would ban commercial bass fishing in Massachusetts waters and limit recreational fishermen to one 20- to 26-inch bass per day.

Steady flow of conflicting views marks Delta debate

Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
January 27, 2010

It's even more vexing if you're trying to figure out how the Delta environment works.

A federal science panel continued to wrestle with that Tuesday, its third and final day of public meetings in Davis. Its task was complicated by conflicting information received from a roster of participants.

Lopsided fish show that symmetry is only skin deep

Science Daily
January 25, 2010

Putting function before form, members of the Perissodinus genus of fish have developed a hugely lopsided jaw that provides a distinct feeding advantage. Research published in the open access journal BMC Biology describes how these scale-eating fish, called cichlids, develop mouths directed either to the left or the right -- enabling them to feed on the opposite side of their prey.

Winter steelhead season is in full swing

Examiner
By Jared Siegel
January 25, 2010

The end of the fall Salmon runs along the southern Oregon Coast brings the beginning of the winter steelhead migration. Owing to their energetic fight and tendency towards acrobatics, winter steelhead are a favorite game fish in Oregon. The steelhead fishing season is currently in full swing on the lower Rogue River, as well as on other smaller systems in the region such as the Chetco, Elk, and Sixes rivers. Each of these rivers supports productive winter runs while offering a unique angling experience. Plug fishing and side drifting are the techniques of choice for catching winter steelhead.

Feds to reconsider protections for Delta fish

The Sacramento Bee
By Matt Weiser
January 25, 2010

Federal wildlife officials have agreed to reconsider an imperiled Delta fish species for Endangered Species Act protection.

The Sacramento splittail, a native of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, was removed from the Endangered Species list in 2003 in a politically charged decision. A federal inspector later found that Bush administration appointee Julie McDonald, who owns rural property in Dixon potentially affected by splittail protections, may have influenced the decision.

'Ranching' tuna the eco-friendly way

CNN
By Kyung Lah
January 25, 2010

Tokihiko Okada has hundreds of children. Well, not literally, but you might as well call the giant bluefin tuna he cares for in the ocean tanks his "children."

Okada is the general manager at Kinki University's Fish Nursery Center. He started working with the university's researchers after leaving college more than 20 years ago.

National science panel convenes on Calif. delta

San Francisco Chronicle
By Samantha Young
January 24, 2010

An expert in California's delta told a panel of the National Academies of Sciences on Sunday that their decisions about the largest estuary on the West Coast could alter how Californians use water.

"I view this as the thorniest water environmental issue in the West," said Jeffrey Mount, a professor at the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

Microbe could help curb massive fish kills

One India
January 22, 2010

A team of researchers from four universities has discovered that a microbe commonly found in waterways emits a poison not just to protect itself, but to stun and immobilize the prey it plans to eat, which could help curb massive fish kills.

The researchers studied the behavior of the algal cell Karlodinium veneficum, known as a dinoflagellate and found in estuaries worldwide.

Each year, millions of dollars are spent on measures to control dinoflagellates around the globe.

Red snapper may be in short supply

Pensacola News Journal
By Chris Philips
January 22, 2010

The new year has arrived and once again everyone is left wondering what will happen with the upcoming red snapper season.

The 2009 red snapper season for both state and federal waters was two fish per-person open. The season was June 1 to Aug. 14.

The designation of "overfishing" has been lifted following a stock assessment late last year. But anglers will likely have to wait at least another year before red snapper bag limits and season dates are increased.

Ocean conditions in 2009 worsen for salmon in Calif.

The Columbia Basin Bulletin
January 22, 2010

Living-feeding conditions for young salmon took a turn for the worst in that 600-mile wide swath of water off the Oregon and Washington coasts called the California current, according to NOAA Fisheries Service scientists.

"During the second half of 2009, the trend of cold ocean conditions that began in 2007 and continued through 2008, changed noticeably," according to "Ocean Ecosystem Indicators 2009," according to the annual update for a research project ongoing since 1996. "After June, the ocean began to warm significantly, leading to detrimental changes in the pelagic food web and likely high mortality of juvenile salmonids."

Storms bring water year up to average

Contra Costa Times
By Mike Taugher
January 22, 2010

After a week of pounding storms, the state's major reservoirs are filling up fast, but they remain far below normal levels after being drawn down hard during the state's dry spell.

For the first time in four years, the watersheds of the northern Sierra have at least an average amount of rain and snow for the year to date in January.

Oregon plagued by steelhead

The Spokesman-Review
January 22, 2010

A thick run of early winter steelhead is returning to hatcheries on six of Oregon's North Coast rivers through the end of January.

If anglers miss them the first time, fish managers plan to trap them, truck them downstream and "recycle" the fish for another run past anglers' hooks.

The last third of a strong early winter steelhead run is still on its way up the North Fork Nehalem, Necanicum and Klaskanine rivers, as well as Big Creek, Gnat Creek and the Nestucca River basin's Three Rivers.

Global warming will require changes at Northwest dams

The Oregonian
By Matthew Preusch
January 22, 2010

Northwest dam managers will need to start filling the region's reservoirs earlier in the spring to minimize the impact of climate change on power production and salmon, a new study concludes.

In a warmer future, scientists expect spring runoff to peak earlier, reducing summer flows in Northwest rivers for fish and hydro-power demands.

That means water managers can no longer count on past experience to plan for the future. So scientists at the University of Washington and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers looked at what would happen at dams and reservoirs if the region was 2 degrees Celsius warmer by the middle of this century.

Why aren't quagga mussels flourishing in northwest?

OBP News
By Ryan Knutson
January 22, 2010

Zebra and Quagga mussels are one of the most damaging invasive water species in the United States, but for some reason, they haven't yet infested the Pacific Northwest.

Researchers at Portland State University are trying to find out why. Ryan Knutson reports.

Fishing season-setting time has arrived

The Bellingham Herald
By Doug Huddle
January 21, 2009

This month the annual task of protecting wild runs, while divvying up harvestable salmon as they return to Puget Sound and coastal rivers begins with the finalization of 2010 pre-season run-size forecasts by state and tribal biologists.

Determined by empirical formulae, these numerical estimates of returning salmon numbers serve as the basis for subsequent negotiations involving state fishery managers, Western Washington treaty tribe representatives and NOAA Fisheries officials that will take place in March and April.