Fish

8/17/2007 -- WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The National Marine Fisheries Services issued a final rule Aug. 16 that allows the Navy to continue operating Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) sonar in the western Pacific Ocean for the next five years, subject to a yearly authorization renewal.    » read more »

PFOS measured in fish tissue poses health concern if species eaten too often

August 16, 2007 -- The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today issued new advice for people who eat fish caught in several metro area lakes after the chemical perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was detected in fish taken from those waters.

The following lakes have new fish consumption advice:

* Ramsey County – Como, and the chain of lakes including Phalen, Gervais, Gervais Mill Pond, Round, Keller, Kohlman and Spoon.
* Washington County - Demontreville, Olson, Lake Elmo, and Ravine.    » read more »

Marine Protected Network is Largest outside Hawaii, Will Increase Size and Number of Fish

SANTA BARBARA , Calif. (August 9, 2007) – Federal officials today added 145 square miles to a network of marine protected areas surrounding the Channel Islands off Southern California, doubling the range of protected underwater habitat and making it the nation’s second-biggest network of marine reserves after the Northwest Hawaiian Islands National Monument.    » read more »

Another S.F. Bay-Delta Fish Population Plummets to Record Low Numbers

San Francisco –The Bay Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and Natural Resources Defense Council today petitioned for state and federal endangered species protection for the longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), a fish that has dropped to record low numbers in the San Francisco Bay-Delta and is nearing extinction in other northern California estuaries. The groups simultaneously asked the U. S.    » read more »

09 August 2007 -- In Kenya, environmental researchers say they may have discovered a new, effective weapon to combat malaria. The disease kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year. The weapon is a fish commonly found in Western Kenya.

Researchers in Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, were studying insects and the environment when they discovered that by introducing a fish called the Nile Tilapia into ponds, mosquito numbers fell by more than 94 percent in less than a year.    » read more »

Striped bass caught at Pleasant shatters state record

Aug 8, 2007 -- PHOENIX – Noel Arnold of Wittmann was fishing at Lake Pleasant and decided to try a water dog in the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 8, and caught a new inland state record striped bass weighing 27.28 pounds and measuring 42.25 inches long.

In fact, Arnold was planning to catch just one more fish before catching some sleep so he meet his dad in the morning to fish for largemouth bass at first light. He ended up not getting any sleep. But he doesn’t mind.    » read more »

Senator Says Recent Food Import Scares and FDA Ban on Chinese Fish Imports Mean Country of Origin Labeling Must be Mandated Immediately

July 11, 2007 -- Washington, DC – In the wake of recent scares about imported food and feed products, and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) alert concerning imports of certain seafood from China, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today called on her Senate colleagues to implement Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) as soon as possible.    » read more »

July 10, 2007 -- WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., praised the decision announced today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to ban the importation and interstate transport of live silver and largescale silver carp. The FWS has determined that both species of carp, native to Asia, would be likely to compete with native Great Lakes fisheries for fish and habitat and so has listed them as injurious species under the provisions of the Lacey Act.    » read more »

Pro-Am set for Nov. 1, Dates for Pro Tournament will be announced soon

July 3, 2007 -- LAKE LANIER ISLANDS, Georgia – Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and the Professional Anglers Association (PAA) this morning announced that initial planning has begun to bring a professional bass fishing tournament to Georgia’s Lake Lanier Islands. Called the Go Fish Georgia Professional Anglers Association Championship, the tournament is expected to draw the top bass anglers in the country.    » read more »

Update Upper Mississippi Locks

June 29, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved his funding requests to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species and to update the Mississippi’s locks:    » read more »

June 28, 2007 -- [WASHINGTON, DC] – In light of FDA’s announcement today to ban five species of fish imported from China, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) sent a letter urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach; the Secretary of Agriculture, Michael Johanns and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt to establish a food safety Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and China. An MOU is a legal document describing a bilateral agreement between parties.    » read more »

Ann Arbor, MI (June 21)—Conservation groups led by the National Wildlife
Federation today announced their intent to file a citizen suit against several shipping companies that operate in the Great Lakes, demanding compliance with the Clean Water Act. The lawsuit aims to shut the door on aquatic invasive species.    » read more »

June 25, 2007 -- A series of regulations designed to help slow the spread of fish diseases in Michigan, in particular Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS), will begin to be implemented on Thursday, June 28, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources fisheries officials. The regulations provide a set of best management practices for anglers, boaters and the bait industry, and will be phased in over time.    » read more »

16 June 2007 -- Delegates from 171 nations have wrapped up a conference on endangered species by putting trade restrictions on ivory, several commercial timber species and some fish.

The meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES, ended in The Hague Friday. At the 12-day talks, the delegates also approved trade limits on red and pink coral used in jewelry, saying over-harvesting in the Mediterranean and Pacific threatens to wipe it out.    » read more »

Ruling Means State and Federal Water Projects May Be Required to Reduce Pumping to Protect Fish from Extinction, Say Conservation Groups

San Francisco, CA -- A federal judge ruled today that a government assessment of risk to threatened fish from massive pumps in the San Francisco Bay Delta is illegal and must be rewritten. State and federal water project managers relied on the "biological opinion" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to justify increased water exports to farms and cities south of the delta.    » read more »