Fish

April 23, 2008 -- WATERBURY, VT – Vermont’s “emergency” baitfish regulation that went into effect last October has been replaced by a permanent regulation that takes into account many of the concerns of anglers and yet still helps protect Vermont fisheries from a deadly new fish virus called Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS).

Baitfish: Photo by Matthew Hoelscher (CC)

Shawn Good, the Fish & Wildlife Department fisheries biologist heading their Aquatic Nuisance Species Team, says the regulation is necessary to help prevent Vermont’s waters and fish from becoming infected with VHS, which could result in devastating fish kills.    » read more »

April 23, 2008 -- Trout fishing has a long, proud heritage in Michigan, and the Department of Natural Resources reminds anglers that trout season opens this Saturday on hundreds of Type 1 and Type 2 streams across the state.

"For many avid spring anglers, there is nothing more anticipated or celebrated than the opening day of trout season," said DNR Director Rebecca Humphries.

Ernest Hemingway trout fishing at Horton Bay Fishing, Michigan, 1919: Photo courtesy of Donald Harrison (CC)    » read more »

04/21/2008 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oregon Governor Theodore R. Kulongoski and Washington Governor Christine Gregoire today sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her for assistance in obtaining emergency appropriations to help address the economic emergency resulting from the Pacific Fisheries Management Council recommendation to close commercial and recreational salmon fishing because of the near record-low levels of salmon fish.

Seattle fish market: Photo by ashatsea (CC)

April 21, 2008

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515    » read more »

04/10/2008 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took a number of steps to aid an industry severely impacted by poor ocean conditions and other environmental factors following today's recommendation by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) that the U.S. Secretary of Commerce close the commercial and recreational salmon fisheries in California for the 2008 season.

Fall salmon run near Sacramento, California: Photo by ascharf (CC)    » read more »

April 11, 2008 -- OLYMPIA – Washington Governor Chris Gregoire today issued the following statement on the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s decision to reduce the number of wild salmon that can be harvested off the coast of Washington this year:

“The large reductions in fishing opportunity for commercial and recreational fishing must be made to protect returning salmon this year.

Salmon on display at a Washington fish market: Photo by Christopher (CC)    » read more »

April 9, 2008 -- (BOISE) – Idaho Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Administrator Stephen J. Wright announced a 10-year $65 million funding agreement today to enhance fish recovery projects in Idaho.

“We celebrate this historic event and look forward to the next 10 years of stable funding,” Governor Otter said.

Idaho fishermen: Photo by Kris Oliver (CC)

“We spend too much time and money in the courts and not enough time out on the ground improving fish habitat. This is a great day for Idaho’s fish and wildlife.”    » read more »

(Portland, OR) - Federal efforts to recover endangered salmon on the Columbia and Snake rivers can no longer ignore global warming, which already has fundamentally changed the river and ocean habitats of salmon and steelhead, warns a new scientific review released today.

The report, A Great Wave Rising, by former chief of fisheries for the state of Oregon Jim Martin and National Wildlife Federation global warming expert Patty Glick, is the latest to reaffirm that global warming’s effects are underway with worse changes to come. It is the first to offer federal managers a set of strategic global warming solutions necessary for the recovery of endangered Columbia and Snake river salmon and steelhead and the communities and industries that depend on them.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- Lansing, Michigan - The Great Lakes Fishery Trust announced today a $750,000 grant to address viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a deadly viral disease in fish. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Fisheries Research Center, Michigan State University, and Cornell University have joined together to provide resource managers in the Great Lakes region with new tools and information to better understand, predict, and manage the threat posed by this fatal disease.    » read more »

January 25, 2008 -- Waterbury, VT – Vermont anglers will have the opportunity to comment on the draft baitfish regulations at five public hearings around the state starting Tuesday, January 29th.

The emergency baitfish regulation, which was to expire in February, has been renewed and will continue until the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board enacts a permanent regulation that will replace it.    » read more »

January 14, 2008 -- WATERBURY, VT -- Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department biologists responded today to numerous calls from concerned anglers reporting thousands of dead fish washing up on the shores of the Inland Sea area of northern Lake Champlain.    » read more »

December 19, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that that the Senate has approved $9.25 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to continue operation and construction on the Asian Carp Barrier project. The funds were included in the omnibus appropriations bill passed by the Senate late yesterday. This barrier will prevent the spread of invasive species, including Asian Carp, between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.    » read more »

September 12, 2007, WASHINGTON – Determined to prevent viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a deadly fish disease, from spreading in the Great Lakes, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., joined eight of their colleagues in a bipartisan letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee asking them to include authority in the upcoming 2007 farm bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide assistance to states for monitoring, testing, controlling and enforcement efforts.    » read more »

September 12, 2007, Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined several of her colleagues in urging the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to provide assistance in the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill to states whose aquaculture and fishing industries have been blighted by the deadly fish disease, Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS).    » read more »

Results from 7-year mother and child study just published

11-Sep-2007 -- Giving children a diet rich in fish and “fruity vegetables” can reduce asthma and allergies, according to a seven-year study of 460 Spanish children, published in the September issue of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

The findings also reinforce the researchers’ earlier findings that a fish-rich diet in pregnancy can help to protect children from asthma and allergies.    » read more »

5-Sep-2007 -- IRD researchers (1) showed that Epinephilus maculates, a fairly abundant species of grouper off New Caledonia, was parasitized by 12 species of microscopic monogenean worms. This diversity of parasites has just been confirmed also in the malabar grouper, Epinephilus malabaricus, another the coral reef species. If such a level of parasite diversity prevails in all coral-reef fish, tens of thousands of parasite species are in this ecosystem waiting to be discovered.    » read more »