Monday January 8, 2024
With remarkably high flows, challenging field conditions, new projects, and new technologies, 2023 was a whirlwind for FISHBIO staff. As we start what promises to be another exciting year, we look back on the accomplishments of the past 12 months, and highlight the notable numbers of 2023:
An adult rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) captured on the Stanislaus River.
In California:
8 Rotary Screw Traps operated in 4 watersheds.
16 tagged rainbow trout/steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) recaptured on the Calaveras River.
16 sites across 5 streams assessed as part of the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP), which included the collection of 25 benthic macroinvertebrate samples.
18 miles of steelhead habitat surveys completed in the Salinas River Basin.
25 threatened green sturgeon captured and tagged in the Sacramento River.
33 different fish species captured in rotary screw traps (including 8 native fish species).
531 rainbow trout/steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) captured via hook-and-line sampling on the Calaveras and Stanislaus rivers.
718 predator diet samples analyzed in the Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers.
1,751 Chinook salmon observed passing through the Tuolumne River weir.
2,300 cubic yards of dredged material monitored for fish entrainment in the Stockton Deep Water Shipping Channel.
2,389 Chinook salmon observed passing through the Stanislaus River weir.
2,926 fish PIT tagged on the San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Calaveras rivers.
9,853 fish captured, 3,942 bass, catfish, and pikeminnow PIT tagged, and 1,617 diet samples collected and analyzed for the South San Joaquin Delta Predator Monitoring Study.
10,764 rainbow trout observed during snorkel surveys of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Calaveras rivers.
70,475 fish captured in the rotary screw traps on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Calaveras rivers.
The acoustic telemetry field team prepare to release a critically endangered Jullien’s Golden Carp (Probarbus jullieni) implanted with an acoustic tag at Koh Preah in the Cambodian Mekong.
In Cambodia:
1 full year of monitoring for the first ever acoustic telemetry network in the Cambodian Mekong.
1 giant freshwater stingray (Urogymnus polylepis) tagged in the acoustic telemetry study officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest freshwater fish.
221 environmental DNA samples collected and analyzed for a paired monitoring study to compare eDNA and traditional fisheries monitoring in the Cambodian Mekong.
321 fish belonging to 28 species tagged and tracked using the acoustic telemetry network.
542 fish (and 3 snakes!) captured and measured in Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary as part of the first year of a new long-term monitoring program to assess the impacts of Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) reintroduction and community-based fishery management.
In Laos:
5 new Fish Conservation Zones (FCZs) established in Oudomxay Province for the protection of the endangered wolfbarb (Luciocyprinus striolatus).
28 Fish Conservation Zones (FCZs) in Laos reassessed through Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice surveys as part of WWF’s Lao-Thai Fisheries Project.
55 environmental DNA samples analyzed to map the distribution of endangered wolfbarb (Luciocyprinus striolatus) in Mekong tributaries in Laos, 18 of which showed positive detections.
661,725 fish and other aquatic animals reported through logbook monitoring in the Xe Champhone wetlands, which will provide data on the effectiveness of 7 recently established FCZs.
A FISHBIO field crew executes a textbook beach seine deployment on the lower Salinas River.
Other Notable Accomplishments:
3 papers published in scientific journals –
- Diets of Native and Non-Native Piscivores in the Stanislaus River, California, Under Contrasting Hydrologic Conditions (Peterson et al. 2023)
- What’s in the water: using environmental DNA metabarcoding to detect fish biodiversity in the Mekong River Basin (Eschenroeder et al. 2023) – Online publication forthcoming in February.
- World Heritage, Hydropower, and Earth’s Largest Freshwater Fish (Lee et al. 2023)
>5,000 photos taken and shared on the FISHBIO Flickr – check out our favorite photos of 2023 here!
With the holidays behind us, FISHBIO staff are back at it and busy in the field, lab, and office. Looking forward to another fantastic, fishy year!
For a closer look at what we achieved in the past year, check out the 2023 Highlight Video on our YouTube channel.
This post was featured in our weekly e-newsletter, the Fish Report. You can subscribe to the Fish Report here.