How penguin chicks could influence fishery management for marine…

Scitech Europa – The bodily condition of penguin chicks and how adult penguins fish could influence fishery management for marine conservation. A new study has found that these factors in adult penguins and penguin chicks are directly linked to local fish abundance. Understanding them in their environment could influence fishery management for the purpose of marine conservation. Marine Read More…

Washington governor urged to veto money to study tearing down Lower…

Tri-City Herald – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is being urged to veto spending $750,000 for a state study on breaching the four lower Snake River hydropower dams. He is scheduled to sign the $52.4 billion operating budget bill for the next two years on Tuesday. It includes $375,000 in the next fiscal year and $375,000 for fiscal 2021 to look at the issues associated with the possible Read More…

‘We became beavers’

USFWS – A little over five years ago, a stretch of Sugar Creek in Siskiyou County’s pristine Scott Valley was completely dry. Today it’s a wetland teeming with life. What caused this landscape to be so completely transformed in a relatively short amount of time? A team of biologists modeling the habits of a rotund rodent with a big overbite – the beaver. Historically, the Scott Read More…

Bolivian fish ponds supported ancient human settlement

Earth.Com – According to a new study, led by Gabriela Prestes-Carneiro of Federal University of Western Para, Brazil, a network of fish ponds in the seasonal drylands of Bolivia supported a permanent human settlement about 1,000 years ago. This research shows how exactly humans modified their environment to support themselves through the months-long Amazon Basin droughts. Previous Read More…

It’s What’s Inside that Counts, Unless You’re a Robotic Fish

USC Viterbi – When humans first conceived of robots, they were clunky, made of sheets of aluminum and steel that prevented them from moving fluidly. Even from a distance, there was no chance of mistaking a robot for a human—or any other type of living creature. Using computer-aided design (CAD) modeling, a team of student engineers, working with Dr. Satyandra K. Gupta, Smith Read More…

Bonneville Power Struggles as salmon runs decline

KIVI Boise – Salmon seasons have been open in Idaho since April, but you wouldn't know it. Not a single spring Chinook has been caught according to Fish and Game records, and Tuesday the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted to close the season on all rivers in the Clearwater Basin. Fisheries managers are projecting that the number of spring Chinook returning to hatcheries in the Clearwater Read More…

West Coast rockfish population rebuild project a success, NOAA says

Seafood Source – West Coast fishing communities earned millions of dollars from a trial program allowing fishermen to cash in on rebounding rockfish populations, NOAA announced last month. Exempted fishing permits (EFPs) were granted to a number of vessels under the trial period, which brought in almost 14 million pounds of fish, with the aim being taking some of the strain off overfished Read More…

CDFW Awards $48.5 Million for Ecosystem and Watershed Restoration

Escalon Times – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced the selection of 38 projects to receive funding for multi-benefit ecosystem restoration and protection projects under its Proposition 1 and Proposition 68 grant programs. The awards, totaling $48.5 million, were made under two separate solicitations for projects focused in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Read More…

Satellite tags reveal what’s eating older Chinook salmon

University of Alaska Fairbanks – Sometimes being a scientist requires a bit of detective work. Andy Seitz, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, had to put on his detective hat when an alarming number of his fish tags started popping up to the surface of the ocean early. “At first we speculated an equipment malfunction,” Seitz Read More…

After Klamath River flushes, C. shasta spores spike, surprising…

Herald and News – The latest report from the Bureau of Reclamation over flushing out C. shasta spores in the Klamath River does not look promising, but it is also early in the data analysis, experts say. According to Megan Skinner, Klamath River Manager for Reclamation, the number of spores actually spiked three or four weeks after the river flushing was completed earlier this Read More…